J.  GORDON  MELTON 

\s 


LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 

Gift  of 

THE  INSTITUTE 

FOR  THE  STUDY  OF 

AMERICAN  RELIGION 


Garrett  Biblical  Institute 


V 


91- 


JESUS  CHRIST  IN 
HIS  HOMELAND 


LECTURES  BY 
Mme.  Lydia  M.  Von  Finkelstein  Mountford 

Stenographically  Reported.      ' 


CINCINNATI  : 
PRESS  OF  JENNINGS  AND  GRAHAM. 


COPYRIGHT,  1911,  BY 
MME.  LYDIA  M.  VON  FINKKLSTEIN  MOTTNTFOBD. 


EvansUn,  !l!«n« 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  NATIVITY  OF  CHRIST,  -  -     7 

II.    THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  JESUS,       -                  -  47 

III.    THE  MANHOOD  AND  MINISTRY  OF  CHRIST,  -  91 


o 

CD 


I. 

The  Nativity  of  Christ. 


THE  NATIVITY  OF  CHRIST 

Dear  Christian  friends,  it  makes  no  difference 
from  what  part  of  the  world  we  may  come,  or 
from  what  nation  or  what  tribe,  there  is  one  name 
that  binds  us  all  together,  and  that  is  the  name  of 
our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ.  In  His  name 
to-night  I  greet  you.  Coming  as  I  do  from  the 
same  land  that  gave  Him  birth,  the  same  moun- 
tains and  hills  and  valleys  that  greeted  His  eyes 
when  He  was  incarnated  into  this  world  greeted 
mine  when  I  was  born  into  this  world.  So  I  do 
not  simply  speak  to  you  as  one  who  has  traveled 
in  Palestine  as  a  tourist  or  explorer,  or  who  has 
lived  there  a  few  years  as  a  missionary,  but  as 
one  of  the  people  of  the  country;  for  that  is  the 
hole  of  the  pit  out  of  which  I  was  dug,  and  the  rock 
out  of  which  I  was  hewn.  For  I  was  born  in  the  r-  . 

— r-          '  I.      .  "  ^*-/W*|\r        \f 

city  of  Jerusalem,  brought  up  in  the  city  of  Jerusa-  .« 

lem,  and  I  know  the  whole  country  of  Palestine 

even  from  Dan  unto  Beersheba,  from  this  side  ofi»iJUn(V 

Jordan  to  the  other  side  of  Jordan,  and  I  bring 

to  you  from  Palestine,  that  Holy  Land,  a  message 

of  peace. 

Any  home  you  may  enter,  any  person  you 
may  meet  on  the  roadside,  we  do  n't  simply  say, 
"Good  morning,  how  do  you  do?"  but  we  salute 

7 


8        Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

and  say,  "Salaam  Alekom,"  which  translated 
means,  "Peace  unto  you,"  and  the  response  is, 
"Alekom  il  Salaam  wa  Rahmet  Allah,"  which 
translated  means,  "And  unto  you  be  peace  and 
the  mercy  of  God."  So  you  find  our  forms  of 
speech  have  not  changed,  but  are  the  same  as  in 
ancient  times.  When  our  Lord  came  unto  His 
disciples,  the  first  words  He  said  to  them  were, 
"Salaam  Alekom,"  "Peace  be  unto  you,"  and 
when  He  sent  His  disciples  out  to  preach  the 
gospel  He  said,  "Into  whatsoever  house  you  enter, 
first  say  to  them,  Peace  unto  this  house,"  so  I 
say  to  you  to-night,  "Peace  unto  you  from  the 
Holy  Land,  and  from  Bethlehem  of  Judea." 

We  have  assembled  to-night  to  study  together 
the  life  of  Christ.  The  question  of  the  day  to- 
day is,  Is  Christ  divine?  Some  have  said  that 
Christ  is  simply  a  principle,  and  that  Joseph  was 
Jesus'  father,  and  that  Jesus  simply  was  a  man 
working  up  to  the  highest  understanding  of  God, 
and  that  He  simply  was  a  man  of  high  spiritual 
degree.  Now,  we  want  to  know  as  to  whether 
this  man  Jesus  Christ  was  simply  a  man  as  we 
are,  or  whether  He  was  the  Son  of  God.  You 
are  familiar  with  the  theological  Christ,  and  you 
are  familiar  with  the  ecclesiastical  Christ;  you 
are  familiar  with  the  Christ  in  art  and  literature; 
but  probably  you  are  not  familiar  with  the  tra- 
ditional Christ,  such  as  we  have  Him,  handed 
down  by  tradition  from  father  to  son,  from  chief- 
tain to  tribe,  from  elders  to  community,  from 
mother  to  daughter — this  Christ  that  is  spoken  of 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  9 

at  the  fireside,  around  the  camp-fire,  on  the  other 
side  of  Jordan.  You  know  Paul  says  to  us, 
"Stand  steadfast  by  the  traditions  you  have  been 
taught,  either  by  word  or  by  our  epistle."  When 
we  teach  by  an  epistle,  the  man  gives  his  epistle, 
and  it  is  copied  by  two  or  three  hundred  scribes ; 
they  make  hundreds  of  copies,  and  each  one  keeps 
a  copy  of  the  epistle,  and  that  is  called  teaching 
by  epistle. 

And  there  is  what  is  called  teaching  by  word. 
And  teaching  by  word  can  never  be  written.  It 
is  handed  down  in  song  and  story ;  and  you  listen 
to  these  stories  of  the  elders  and  chieftains  from 
the  beginning  of  creation  to  the  present  day,  and 
then  they  take  those  and  elaborate  them  in  song 
and  story. 

John  refers  to  this  very  condition.  He  says 
if  what  Jesus  said  were  written  in  books,  the 
world  could  not  contain  the  books;  therefore  we 
see  what  an  immense  amount  of  information  has 
been  lost  to  us  because  it  could  not  be  written  in 
books.  The  Gospels  are,  after  all,  more  or  less 
fragmentary.  It  was  the  business  of  the  recorder 
simply  to  record  salient  facts.  The  other  infor- 
mation was  generally  known,  and  they  were  re- 
cording facts,  in  order  to  show  that  Jesus  was 
the  Son  of  God.  And  so  to-night  we  shall  study 
the  history  of  Christ  from  these  traditions  as  we 
have  them  in  His  homeland,  and  I  will  recite  them 
to  you  as  they  are  given  to  us. 

We  will  in  imagination  to-night  go  to  the  city 
of  Jerusalem  with  the  wise  men  of  old.  We  come 


10      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

to  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  we  ask  a  question, 
»'1-  "Where  is  He  that  is  born  King  of  the  Jews,  for 
we  have  seen  His  star  in  the  east,  and  have  His 
record,  and  have  come  to  worship  Him." 

Now,  we  find  that  these  wise  men  that  came 
to  Jerusalem  were  not  fools,  they  were  not  cranks, 
they  were  not  crazy  men,  but  they  were  wise 
men,  and  these  wise  men  evidently  had  come 
officially  to  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  for  they  sought 
an  audience  with  Herod ;  and  it  was  a  very  diffi- 
fcult  thing  to  get  an  audience  with  Herod,  who 
was  so  proud  and  great  a  king.  We  find  that 
this  question  of  theirs  aroused  a  tremendous  in- 
terest and  anxiety  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  be- 
cause of  the  source  whence  this  question  came. 
For  Herod  was  troubled,  and  all  Jerusalem  was 
troubled  with  him.  Why  should  Herod  be  trou- 
bled, and  what  does  Herod  do?  Herod  goes  and 
gathers  all  his  wise  men,  the  scribes  of  the  people, 
the  teachers  of  the  people,  and  he  demands  of 
them  where  the  Christ  should  be  born.  Herod '^ 
did  not  understand  that  Christ  was  a  principle.  - 
Did  Herod  say,  "Where  is*"*trie  principle  to  be 
born?"  Don't  you  see  how  foolish  it  is  for  us 
(.to  say  Christ  is  a  principle?  Either  the  Bible 
is  true  or  it  is  a  lie,  and  we  have  to  stand  to- 
day on  a  firm  rock  to  declare  the  truth  of  the 
Bible.  If  Christ  was  not  the  Son  of  God,  He 
was  the  greatest  impostor  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Now  we  see  that  even  before  His  birth 
they  are  ready;  it  is  general  information  to  the 
public  at  large ;  Herod  knows  about  it,  he  knows 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  11 

that  the  Christ  is  going,  to  be  born.  So  when 
the  wise  men  come  here  to  see,  they  did  not  even 
ask,  "Where  is  the  Christ  to  be  born?"  but  they 
said,  "Where  is  the  King  of  the  Jews,  for  we  have 
seen  His  star  in  the  east?" 

Now,  the  term  "the  King  of  the  Jews"  would 
signify  the  king  of  the  enlightened  ones.  For  the 
Jews  had  the  greatest  source  of  light  that  people 
ever  had,  that  is,  the  idea  of  spiritual  things,  as 
you  here  in  America  have  got  a  higher  conception 
and  idea  of  the  freedom  and  liberty  to  which 
every  human  soul  is  entitled.  So  people  say, 
"Why,  that  is  American !"  It  is  n't  your  business 
principles  that  give  any  credit  to  you — the  things 
that  make  you  so  smart  in  business.  The  idea 
of  being  an  American  is  not  simply  to  be  a  clever 
business  man.  That  is  of  the  earth,  earthy;  but 
the  idea  of  being  a  true  American  is  to  be  free, 
and  give  freedom  of  spiritual  life  and  thought  to 
every  human  being  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  That 
is  the  American  principle,  to  do  justice,  and  be 
righteous  to  all  men,  to  live  the  Christ  life.  So 
it  was  with  the  idea  of  the  Jewish  religion  to 
the  nations  at  large,  that  anything  there  was  of 
the  higher  thought,  they  would  say,  "The  Jews." 
So  here  were  the  wise  men  with  their  question, 
"Where  is  the  King  of  the  Jews,  He  that  is  called 
King  of  the  Jews?" — not  that  He  was  elected  or 
nominated  king,  but  born  King  of  the  Jews. 

Now,  Herod  at  once  understood  who  could 
be  born  King  of  the  Jews;  that  was  but  one 
person,  and  that  was  the  Christ.  So  Herod  said, 


12      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

"Where  is  the  Christ  to  be  born?"  So  they 
looked  over  their  records,  these  wise  men.  They 
had  to  get  up  a  session,  just  like  your  President 
might  have  to  call  a  special  session  of  Congress, 
if  there  was  a  question  asked  by  some  great 
power.  So  Herod  had  to  gather  a  special  ses- 
sion of  his  most  intelligent  men,  the  scribes,  the 
teachers  of  the  people;  and  so  he  said  to  them, 
-"Where  is  Christ  to  be  born?"  And  they  said 
to  him,  "In  Bethlehem  of  Judea,  for  thus  it  is 
written,"  and  they  gave  him  the  written  facts 
about  it. 

Herod  goes  and  has  an  interview  with  these 
men  from  the  East,  and  he  asks  when  they  saw 
this  star,  and  inquires  all  about  this  child,  and 
he  asks  diligently, — not  carelessly,  but  diligently ; 
he  wanted  to  compare  notes  and  data.     Then 
after  getting  his  answer  from  his  own  wise  men, 
he  comes  to  the  wise  men^officially.     First 
asks  for  a  private  audience;  next  he  comes  offi- 
cially and  he  says :  "My  wise  men  say  the  Christ 
is  to  be  born  in  Bethlehem  of  Judea.    Now,  you  r^  f£^>  ^ 
go  forth   to   Bethlehem,  and  when  you   find  aj < 
child  that  tallies  with  your  description^then  you 
come  and  tell  me,  and  I  will  come  and  worship 
Him.     Inform  me  of  the  fact,  and  I  will  come-yy,^ 
and  worship  Him  also."     So  he  sends  the  wise, 
men  to  Bethlehem. 

Who  and  what  were  these  wise  men?  What 
business  had  these  wise  men  to  come  to  Jerusa- 
lem? According  to  our  unwritten  history,  these 
wise  men  were  priests  from  Persia;  they  were 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  13 

Magian  princes  from  the  great  Magian  order,  and 
they  came  to  worship  Christ,  to  take  their  oath 
of  allegiance  to  Him/  Why  should  they  come  so 
far  to  take  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  this  babe, 
born  King  of  the  Jews?  The  Persian  and  He- 
brew  religions  were  not  alien  to  each  other.'"  In 
training  the  Hebrew  people,  God  had  them  taken 
into  captivity,  so  they  could  be  educated 
the  Persians.  God  says  about  Cyrus  in  Isaiah,*— *  Ly5\ 
44:  28,  "He  is  my  shepherd,  and  shall  perform  all 
my  pleasure,  even  saying  to  Jerusalem,  Thou^y^  V^— - 
shalt  be  built;  and  to  the  temple,  Thy  founda- 
tions  shall  be  laid."  So  we  see  that  Jerusalem 
and  the  temple,  after  all,  were  foundations  laid 
by  a  Persian  king.  But  God  says  to 
"Thou  hast  not  known  me,  and  yet  Cyrus  is 
my  shepherd."  So  you  see  the  relationship  be- 
tween  the  Hebrews  and  the  Persians.  When 
Palestine  was  overcome  by  the  Persians,  and  was 
a  Persian-conquered  province,  the  Persians  al- 
ways sent  their  own  governors  to  govern  Pales- 
tine, just  as  you  do  in  the  Philippines  to-day. 
Many  children  of  Americans  will  be  born  in  the 
Philippines,  but  they  won't  care  to  come  to 
America,  they  will  remain  in  the  Philippines; 
but  they  will  remain  American  citizens;  and  if 
they  have  an  inheritance  come  to  them  from 
America,  it  will  belong  to  them,  though  they 
never  come  to  America.  So  with  the  Persians; 
many  of  the  Persians  that  came  as  governors  to 
Palestine,  and  many  of  their  children  preferred 
to  remain  in  Palestine,  so  we  have  a  large  colony 


v/u 


14      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

of  Persians  dwelling  in  Palestine,  and  have  their 

p  .  '    descendants  to  the  present  day.    In  Jerusalem  we 

have  a  street  called  the  Street  of  the  Medes  and 

'Persians,  and  we  have  another  place  called  the 

Camp  of  the  Persians. 

These  governors  were  usually  in  line  of  suc- 
cession to  the  Persian  throne.  The  Persians  were 
very  particular;  they  kept  a  record,  so  if  they 
wanted  an  heir  to  the  throne  they  could  lay 
their  hands  on  him.  We  have  the  same  custom 
in  Palestine  to-day.  For  instance,  in  the  case 
of  the  very  Sultan  of  Turkey  that  has  been  im- 
peached and  his  brother  placed  on  his  throne  — 
the  governor  of  Jerusalem  was  a  Turkish  prince 
in  the  line  of  succession  to  this  very  sultan's 
throne.  Now,  he  died;  but  had  he  not  died  they 
would  have  fetched  him  from  Palestine  to  rule 
instead  of  the  one  that  is  ruling  to-day,  because 
he  was  next  in  the  line  of  succession  to  the  Turk- 
ish throne.  So  we  can  understand  the  conditions 
of  Turkish  life  when  we  understand  that  the  con- 
ditions of  life  are  the  same  in  our  country  to- 
day. The  traditional  histories  tell  us  that  Queen 
Esther,  when  she  married  Ahasuerus,  had  a  son. 
This  son  was  a  royal  prince  of  Persia,  for  his 
father  was  a  king,  and  he  was  in  line  of  suc- 
cession to  the  Persian  throne.  He  was  on  his 
mother's  side  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Benjamin, 
so  that  he  was  doubly  royal,  a  prince  of  Israel 
and  a  prince  of  Persia.  Time  passed  on  ;  and  a 
descendant  of  this  very  prince,  son  of  Queen 
Esther  and  Ahasuerus,  was  sent  as  a  governor 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  15 

to  Palestine,  and  he  was  glad  to  go  there,  be- 
cause he  wanted  to  see  the  land  of  the  ancestors 
of  his  mother,  for  in  his  veins  flowed  the  blood 
of  the  house  of  Prince  Benjamin.  He  loved  the 
land,  and  his  descendants  remained  living  in  the 
land. 

So  it  comes  up  to  the  time  of  the  birth  of 
Christ.  Here  was  a  descendant  of  that  royal 
house  of  Persia  and  the  house  of  Benjamin,  and 
he  lived  in  Nazareth.  His  name  was  Nakeeb 
Shah,  and  he  was  a  priest-prince,  belonging  to  the 
Magian  order.  There  was  a  large  community 
of  Persians  that  resided  in  Nazareth  and  its  vicin- 
ity, and  he  was  their  priest,  a  Persian  by  religion, 
a  very  good  and  faithful  man,  very  wealthy, 
being  the  great  master  shepherd.  A  princess  yV****  c 
of  the  house  of  Israel  lived  in  Bethlehem.  Her 
name  was  Anna.  She  was  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  house  of  David  from  the  shepherd  line  of 
the  house  of  David.  Joseph,  you  know,  was  not 
of  the  shepherd  line,  though  he  was  a  son  of 
David ;  he  was  of  the  carpenters'  house,  although 
he  was  of  the  house  of  Nathati  and  not  of  Solo- 
mon, not  of  the  shepherd  royal  line.  But  this 
Princess  Anna  was  a  direct  descendant  of  the 
royal  line,  through  Solomon,  being  of  the  shep- 
herd line  as  it  is  called.  On  her  mother's  side 
she  was  the  descendant  of  the  house  of  Ephraim, 
who  was  a  son  of  Joseph  that  was  sold  into 
Egypt  by  his  brothers.  Joseph  becomes  a  ruler 
of  Egypt;  he  marries  the  Princess  Asenath,  who 
was  the  daughter  of  a  priest  of  On,  the  priest 


16      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

at  Heliopolis,  of  the  temple  of  the  sun.  She 
bears  unto  him  two  sons,  Ephraim  and  Manas- 
seh.  Joseph  takes  these  two  sons  and  incorpo- 
rates them  into  the  royal  house  of  Israel,  so  they 
become  princes  of  Israel.  On  their  mother's  side 
they  were  in  the  line  of  succession  to  the  throne 
of  Egypt,  in  the  matriarchal  line.  This  Princess 
Anna  lived  in  Bethlehem,  on  the  land  which  be- 
longed to  David  originally,  where  the  inn  or  kahn 
stood.  The  land  still  belonged  to  David ;  though 
the  owner  can  give  away  the  buildings,  the  land 
always  remains  in  perpetuity  to  the  heirs  for- 
ever. It  is  a  curious  law  we  have  in  the  country, 
that  you  can  never  sell  the  land  belonging  to  a 
family.  It  remains  to  the  heirs  forever.  You 
can  sell  the  buildings,  but  not  the  land;  it  be- 
longs to  this  royal  family. 

She  was  a  teacher  in  the  temple,  she  was  a 
prophetess;  that  is,  you  read  about  Huldah,  the 
prophetess.  She  was  the  one  that  kept  the  tra- 
ditions, that  is,  the  one  that  hands  down  the 
unwritten  histories.  You  remember  the  priest 
Hilkiah  asked  Huldah  if  the  word  they  found 
was  correct,  because  she  was  the  one  that  con- 
served their  records.  So  Anna,  being  of  the 
house  of  David,  had  this  portion  in  the  temple 
which  belonged  to  her  ancestor  David,  but  she 
lived  in  Bethlehem.  She  was  a  very  beautiful 
woman,  and  a  righteous  and  a  godly  woman. 
Prince  Nakeeb  Shah  of  Nazareth  meets  her  in 
the  Court  of  the  Gentiles  of  the  temple,  falls  in  love 
with  her,  and  wants  to  marry  her.  He  sees  a  special 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  17 

providence  in  this,  that  he,  of  the  royal  house  of 
Persia,  and  on  his  mother's  side  of  the  house  of 
Benjamin,  should  marry  the  Princess  Anna  of  the 
house  of  David  and  the  house  of  Ephraim.  But  he 
could  n't  marry  her,  because  she  was  a  Jewess  and 
he  a  Persian.  So  he  becomes  a  Jew,  and  his  name 
is  changed  to  Joachim.  Not  being  able  to  pray 
in  the  interior  of  the  temple,  as  that  was  only 
for  those  of  the  second  generation,  he  had  in 
Jerusalem  large  properties,  and  he  donated  a 
court  which  adjoined  the  court  of  the  temple, 
and  he  and  four  hundred  of  his  retainers  became 
Jews,  and  the  wall  was  broken  down,  and  this 
became  all  in  one,  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
here  Joachim  and  his  retainers  came  to  pray.  He 
married  Anna,  and  they  for  many  years  had  no 
children.  But  they  took  a  vow  that  they  would 
dedicate  the  child  that  God  would  give  them  unto 
the  Lord,  and  Mary  was  born.  I  have  had  to 
give  you  all  this  to  show  you  who  Mary  was. 
You  see  you  have  the  record  that  Mary  was  of 
Nazareth,  that  is  all. 

Mary  was  born.     Now,  at  three  years  old,  %  * 
Mary  is  brought  up  to  the  temple  to  be  dedicated  *• 
unto  the  Lord  forever.    The  father  had  given  his 
large  estate  in  trust  to  the  temple  trustees,  as 
Mary  now  belonged  to  the  temple.    His  house  in 
Nazareth,    a   beautiful,    palatial    house,    he    had 
deeded  to  Mary,  and  all  the  rest  were  for  Mary 
as    belonging   to   the   temple.     They   were    her 
guardians  and  trustees.    In  the  Vatican  you  will 
find  one  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures,  the  dedi- 

2 


18      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

cation  of  Mary  at  three  years  old.  Here  are  the 
altar  steps,  the  high-priest  standing  at  the  altar. 
The  father  and  mother  of  Mary  bring  her  up 
to  dedicate  her.  The  mother  is  adjusting  the 
robe,  when  the  little  girl  runs  up  the  steps  her- 
self and  claps  her  hands  and  sings  a  song  of 
praise.  The  high  priest  lifts  her  up  before  the 
thousands  of  people,  and  dedicates  her  as  a  hand- 
maid unto  the  Lord,  and  a  virgin  unto  the  Lord, 
and  a  candlestick  of  the  house  of  David.  She 
remains  in  the  temple,  and  her  father  and  mother 
return  to  Nazareth,  and  adopt  another  little  girl 
to  take  her  place,  because  Mary  belongs  to  the 
Lord  and  has  to  remain  in  the  temple.  That  is 
why  vou  read  °f  Mary's  sister;  she  was  Mary 
also. 

At  four  years  old  the  parents  die  and  Mary 
becomes  a  daughter  of  the  temple  altogether; 
she  now  belongs  to  the  Lord.  She  grew  up  a 
most  beautiful  child.  She  was  loved  by  every- 
body. Every  priest  tried  to  vie  with  the  others 
to  teach  her.  In  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles, 
where  there  were  priests  of  many  religions,  every 
priest  taught  her  his  particular  belief;  so  Mary, 
in  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  saw  the  faiths  of  all 
nations,  as  well  as  that  in  the  holy  temple.  The 
high  priest  allowed  her  to  go  into  the  holy  of 
holies,  a  thing  that  was  never  granted  to  a  woman 
before  or  after. 

And  so  here  we  find  Mary  in  the  temple,  the 
daughter  of  the  temple.  The  summer  months 
she  used  to  spend  in  Nazareth,  in  her  own  home 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  19 

that  her  father  had  left  her;  the  fall  and  winter 
and  spring  months  she  dwelt  in  the  temple.  She 
was  a  great  singer,  a  sweet  singer.  She  is  known 
as  the  great  singer,  the  sweet  singer,  after  her 
ancestor  David.  She  used  to  compose  songs,  and 
sing  the  songs  of  David  in  the  temple.  And  so 
that  is  Mzry.faj^jJl^^j/foQUf 

When  we  see  her  now,  the  angel  appears  to 
her  and  says  to  her:  "Hail,  thou  that  art  highly 
favoured,  the  Lord  is  with  thee;  blessed  art  thou 
among  women.  Hail  to  thee,  O  Mary!"  Mary 
looks  around  to  see  what  this  angel  means  by 
such  a  salutation,  and  he  said  to  her,  "Fear  not, 
Mary;  for  thou  hast  found  favour  with  God.  And 
behold,  thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  bring 
forth  a  Son,  and  shalt  call  His  name  Jesus." 

Mary  first  of  all  turns  round  about  to  see 
what  manner  of  salutation  this  was;  for  in  the 
East  a  man  never  gives  even  a  man  that  saluta- 
tion unless  he  is  on  a  perfect  equality  with  him, 
but  never  to  a  woman  unless  he  looks  upon  her 
as  being  equal  to  him.  For  this  reason  you  see 
that  Mary  turns  round  to  see  what  manner  of 
salutation  that  was.  "What,  I,  I  to  be  on  an 
equality  with  an  angel?"  And  he  says,  "Fear 
not,  Mary ;  thou  shalt  conceive  and  bear  a  child." 
And  she  says:  "How  shall  this  be,  seeing  I  knowv>l  fj- 
not  a  man,  and  never  will  know  a  man,  and  have  no...  ' 
desire?  I  am  dedicated  unto  the  Lord  forever.'  * 

Now,  it  was  customary  in  the  country  for  the 
girls  that  were  dedicated  to  the  Lord  by  their 
parents  to  remain  in  the  temple  until  the  age  of  . 


20      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

puberty,  when  the  high  priest  would  say  to  them, 
"Now  that  you  are  arrived  at  this  age,  you  are 
free  to  marry,  you  are  free  of  the  vow  of  your 
parents."  And  then  they  would  send  word  to 
all  the  priests  and  theological  students  and  say: 
"There  are  virgins  of  the  Lord  in  the  temple. 
Come  up  and  choose  for  yourselves  wives  of  the 
virgins  of  the  Lord."  Those  virgins  that  did  n't 
want  to  get  married  and  live  after  the  flesh,  re- 
dedicated  themselves  unto  the  Lord.  So  that 
when  Mary  arrives  at  this  age  of  puberty  and  re- 
ceives freedom  from  the  vow  of  her  parents,  she 
says  to  the  high  priest:  "I  am  the  handmaid  of 
the  Lord  forever.  I  have  rededicated  myself  to 
^e  ^e  candlestick  of  the  house  of  David  and  a 
perpetual  handmaid  and  virgin  of  the  Lord."  And 
of  her  own  free  will  she  chose  rather  to  be  a  door- 
keeper,  to  serve  and  minister  in  the  house  of  God, 
rather  than  live  in  luxury  the  life  of  a  princess  to 
which  by  birth  and  riches  she  was  entitled  to — but 
she  renounced  the  world  and  was  always  heard  to 
sing,  "Lord,  I  have  loved  the  habitation  of  Thy 
house  and  the  place  where  Thy  glory  dwelleth." 
But,  though  she  remains  a  perpetual  virgin, 
^*y  she  has  to  have  somebody  to  shield  her,  for  the 
sa^e  °f  tne  tribe  she  belongs  to,  because  there 
was  no  male  in  her  line.  So  she  had  to  marry 
Joseph,  but  did  n't  live  with  him  after  the  flesh, 
but  she  was  always  called  "Joseph's  virgin."  Joseph, 
tradition  tells  us,  was  a  widower  having  three  sons 
and  two  daughters.  These  children  are  mentioned 
as  "the  brethren  of  the  Lord."  In  Palestine  a  man 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  21 

assumes  the  genealogy  of  his  wife,  if  there  is  no 
male  on  her  line,  and  she  is  legally  known  only 
through  her  husband,  therefore  that  is  why  Joseph 
has  two  genealogies.  His  own  is  that  given  by  Luke 
as  the  son  of  Heli,  and  shows  him  to  be  a  descendant 
of  David  through  Nathan,  but  Mary's  genealogy  is 
given  by  Matthew  as  the  direct  offspring  of  David, 
the  son  of  Abraham.  That  is  why  Mary  in  her 
magnificent  song  refers  to  her  genealogy,  "As  He 
spake  to  our  fathers  to  Abraham,  and  to  his  seed 
for  ever."  Joseph  is  only  called  begotten  into  this 
family  through  Jacob  because  he  is  the  "husband  of 
Mary  of  whom  was  born  Jesus,  who  is  called 
Christ." — Matthew  i :  16.  We  still  have  a  sect  to- 
day that  is  called  Safee  or  Purists  that  simply  live 
after  the  spirit.  Though  Mary  was  married,  she 
wished  to  remain  a  perpetual  virgin.  She  has  taken 
an  oath,  but  she  is  married  for  the  sake  of  the  rec- 
ord. And  you  find  Paul  alluding  to  this  custom 
when  he  says,  "If  a  man  marries  his  virgin,  he  sin- 
neth  not."  If  they  want  to  live  after  the  flesh,  they 
would  not  sin,  but  otherwise  she  remains  a  virgin 
forever. 

So  with  Mary;  when  the  angel  made  his  an- 
nouncement to  her,  she  says:  "How  can  I  have 
a  child,  seeing  I  know  no  man,  and  never  will, 
and  have  no  desire?  I  am  a  virgin  of  the  Lord." 
And  he  said  to  her,  "The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come 
upon  thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Highest  shall  over- 
shadow thee,  therefore  also  that  holy  thing  which 
shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God. 
The  power  of  the  Highest  shall  overshadow  thee." 


22      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

He  did  n't  say  "son  of  Joseph."  If  she  had  been 
married  in  the  usual  fashion,  and  it  had  been  an- 
nounced to  her  that  she  would  have  a  son  after 
the  flesh,  she  would  have  praised  God  and  said, 
"Now  there  will  be  no  reproach  on  me,  for  Mary 
will  not  be  barren  like  Sarah,  or  Rebecca,  or 
Hannah,  or  Elizabeth ;  but  Mary  will  be  a 
mother;  she  will  bear  a  child  unto  the  house 
of  David."  That  is  what  Mary  would  have  done. 
But  Mary  knew  perfectly  well  that  according  to 
the  flesh  she  was  to  remain  a  virgin  wife.  So 
the  angel  tells  her  that  the  holy  thing  that  shall 
be  born  of  her  shall  be  called  the  Son  of  God. 

Mary  seems  to  grasp  the  whole  thing,  and  she 
says  to  him:  "Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord," 
of  whom,  of  Joseph  ? — No,  but  "the  handmaid  of  the 
Lord,  be  it  unto  me  according  to  thy  word."  Now, 
you  see  Mary's  implicit  obedience.  Mary  didn't 
stop  and  say,  "I  don't  understand  this,  you  must 
explain  it  to  me."  No,  but  she  said,  "Let  it  be  done 
to  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord  according  to  thy  word." 
That  is  what  Mary  handed  down  to  her  son  accord- 
ing to  the  flesh — implicit  obedience. 

Now,  we  will  go  and  find  Mary  and  Joseph. 
We  will  go  with  the  wise  men.  We  leave  the 
Jaffa  Western  Gate,  go  down  a  hill,  and  see  the 
Pool  of  Gihon,  to  the  west  the  valley  of  Hin- 
nom.  We  go  up  a  steep  incline,  and  we  journey 
across  a  beautiful  plain.  You  ask,  "What  is 
this  plain?"  and  we  tell  you,  "This  is  the  plain 
of  Rephaim."  And  as  we  journey  across  the 
Plain  of  Rephaim  we  see  hundreds  of  Orientals 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  23 

coming  and  going.  And  to  our  right  hand  we 
see  a  building  standing  alone  in  a  field,  a  one- 
story  building,  with  a  dome,  and  whitewashed  on 
the  outside.  We  ask  what  it  is.  They  tell  us 
it  is  the  tomb  of  Rachel.  Whenever  you  travel 
in  Palestine  and  see  a  one-story  building,  white- 
washed on  the  outside,  you  must  know  that  it  is 
the  tomb  of  some  saint.  And  it  was  to  one  of 
these  many  tombs  that  our  Lord  referred  when 
He  said,  "Ye  are  as  whited  sepulchers,  full  of  dead 
men's  bones."  How  do  we  know  that?  Because 
they  are  whitewashed  on  the  outside. 

To  our  left  we  pass  through  a  beautiful  olive 
grove,  and  go  up  a  little  hill,  and  come  to  a 
beautiful  plain.  What  do  we  see  upon  this  beau- 
tiful plain?  We  see  hundreds  of  sheep  grazing, 
and  the  shepherds  in  the  shade  of  the  rocks  play- 
ing upon  musical  reeds.  You  ask,  "What  is  this 
place?"  and  they  tell  you,  "These  are  the  fields 
of  the  shepherd."  And  as  we  stand  there,  it 
seems  to  us  that  twenty  centuries  roll  back,  and 
in  imagination  we  can  see  aricl  hear  them,  that 
heavenly  host,  and  the  shepherds  watching  their 
flocks.  They  were,  tradition  says,  looking  at  those 
beautiful  stars,  and  some  say  they  were  talking 
about  the  "Star  of  Jacob,"  and  wondering  when  it 
would  appear,  for  that  was  handed  down  to  them, 
and  they  were  studying  about  that  star.  And 
suddenly  a  light  shone,  and  it  blinded  them,  and 
out  of  that  light  they  saw  a  great  white-robed 
angel  who  said  to  them,  "Fear  not,  for  I  bring 
you  tidings  of  great  joy.  Unto  you  is  born  this 


24      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

day  in  the  city  of  David  the  Savior,  who  is 
Christ  the  Lord.  And  this  shall  be  the  sign;  ye 
shall  find  Him  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes  and 
lying  in  a  manger."  And  they  heard  the  angels 
singing,  "Peace  on  earth,  good  will  to  men." 
And  when  the  vision  had  disappeared  the  shep- 
herds said,  "Come,  let  us  go  and  see  this  thing 
that  the  Lord  hath  made  known  to  us."  And 
so  with  the  shepherds  we  will  now  go  up  to 
Bethlehem,  which  is  only  a  short  distance  away. 
Anybody  spending  Christmas .  in  Bethlehem 
:.  to-day  can  have  a  very  adequate  idea  of  what 

Bethlehem  looked  like  when  Jesus  was  born 
there.  People  had  come  from  every  part  of  the 
country,  because  it  was  the  enrollment  and  tax- 
ation season.  To-day  they  come  from  every  part 
of  the  world  to  celebrate  the  birth  of  Christ  in 
Bethlehem.  We  come  into  Bethlehem,  and  we 
find  people  gathered  from  every  part  of  the  world. 
You  see  groups  of  men  standing.  Our  streets 
are  not  wide  like  yours,  not  very  much  wider  than 
the  aisle  of  a  church ;  we  have  no  gas  lights  and 
electric  lights,  but  there  are  torches  burning 
here  and  there  to  guide  the  thousands  of  stran- 
gers and  pilgrims  to  their  lodging  places  and  the 
people  to  their  homes.  Our  little  booths  and 
shops  are  decorated  with  all  kinds  of  wares  for 
the  strangers  to  buy — souvenirs  of  Bethlehem. 
You  see  a  group  of  men  standing  talking,  and 
you  come  up  to  them  and  you  say,  "Salaam," 
"Peace."  And  what  do  we  hear?  Says  one  of 
these  men,  "The  city  is  so  crowded  that  there 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  25 

is  no  room  anywhere.  Do  you  know  the  inn- 
keeper has  been  obliged  to  turn  his  stables  into 
accommodations  for  the  guests?"  Now,  the  inn, 
the  caravansary  or  khan,  is  a  large  building 
the  accommodation  of  strangers — a  large  build- 
ing, built  in  a  quadrangle,  and  open  to  the  sky. 
All  around  here  is  an  arcade.  These  are  the 
stables  for  the  horses,  donkeys,  mules,  and 
camels.  On  either  side  is  an  open  staircase 
that  leads  to  the  habitable  rooms  upstairs.  When 
these  rooms  are  all  full  and  people  are  still  pour- 
ing in,  what  does  the  innkeeper  do?  The  inn- 
keeper goes  into  the  stables,  turns  the  horses 
and  mules  and  donkeys  out  into  the  open  square, 
cleans  the  stables,  sprinkles  fresh  straw  all 
around,  and  hires  portions  of  them  to  the  be- 
lated people  that  come;  and  often  you  have  to 
pay  four  or  five  or  six  times  as  much  for  ac- 
commodations in  the  stables  as  for  one  of  the 
best  chambers  in  the  house.  I  tell  you,  it  is  S 
sign  of  poverty  to  sleep  in  the  stables  at  such 
a  time  in  Palestine;  it  is  a  sign  that  you  have 
got  a  good  deal  of  money,  and  the  innkeeper 
is  going  to  get  the  best  of  you.  Any  one  who 
has  traveled  in  your  land  knows  how  you  go  from 
place  to  place,  and  come  to  a  city  where  there 
is  a  convention  going  on,  or  some  great  exhibi- 
tion, or  an  inauguration.  You  go  to  Washington 
in  the  time  of  an  inauguration,  as  I  did ;  and  it  was 
nothing  to  pay  from  five  to  fifty  dollars  a  night 
for  accommodations.  They  did  in  Washington 
better  than  we  do  in  Palestine.  Now,  in  the  East, 


26      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

why,  the  innkeeper  glories  at  those  times.  You 
will  see  him  throw  his  cloak  across  his  shoulders 
and  walk  through  his  inn,  jingling  the  money  in 
his  pockets,  and  you  will  hear  him  saying,  "We 
thank  and  we  praise  Thee,  O  Lord,  that  Thou 
hast  let  us  see  this  day,  when  we  turn  our  stables 
into  accommodations  for  the  guests.  When  we 
charge  our  regular  tariff  we  can  hardly  make  a 
living,  but  when  we  turn  our  stables  into  ac- 
commodations for  the  strangers,  that  is  the  time 
we  make  our  living.  O,  would  to  God  we  had 
such  good  times  all  the  time !"  You  who  have 
traveled  know  how  it  is;  you  will  go  from  hotel 
to  hotel  at  the  time  of  a  convention,  and  you  will 
come  to  a  hotel  and  you  will  ask  the  manager  or 
proprietor  to  squeeze  you  in  somewhere — and 
O,  what  a  squeeze  it  is!  Sometimes  they  will 
put  you  up  in  an  attic  on  a  shake-up,  or  shake- 
down, or  they  will  put  you  on  a  cot  two  inches 
too  narrow  or  too  short  for  you.  And  when  you 
come  to  pay  your  bill,  you  have  to  pay  just  as 
much  as  a  person  who  is  occupying  a  good  room. 

Now,  if  you  can  do  that,  what  do  you  suppose 
we  can  do?  We  can  charge  them  what  we  like. 
The  innkeeper  says,  "Do  you  think  me  a  fool  to 
turn  my  animals  into  the  open  court?  I  am  go- 
ing to  make  money  out  of  this," — and  he  does. 

Our  legends  say  that  Jesus  was  born  in  a 

<W**aWv<*  grotto.     All  our  inns  are  built  in  that  way,  if 

they  can  find  a  place  where  there  are  natural 

caves  or  grottoes.    If  they  have  no  natural  caves, 

they  will  make  separate  alcoves  for  thoroughbred 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  27 

horses  and  donkeys.  Now,  a  person  who  has  a 
place  like  that,  for  thoroughbred  horses  and  don- 
keys, is  not  going  to  allow  you  a  place  like  that 
for  nothing.  I  do  n't  know  why  the  people  got 
the  idea  that  because  Jesus  was  born  in  a  stable 
and  laid  in  a  manger,  that  Jesus  was  poor.  What 
does  the  Bible  say?  The  Bible  says  He  w< 
laid  in  a  manger  because  there  was  no  room  in  ^j^ 
the  inn,  and  not  because  they  were  poor.  Now, 
for  this  accommodation  they  must  have  paid,  as 
people  pay  to-day,  a  large  price.  These  thorough- 
bred horses  and  donkeys  cost  from  five  hundred 
to  fifteen  hundred  dollars  apiece.  You  go  and 
try  in  your  own  country  to  sleep  in  a  stable, 
and  you  will  find  it  difficult.  You  come  to  a  great 
city  and  try  to  sleep  in  a  stable  where  there  are 
thoroughbred  horses  and  donkeys — will  they  al- 
low you  to  enter  into  the  stable?  It  will  cost 
you  more  than  a  hotel.  And  so,  if  Jesus  was 
born  in  that  grotto  which  they  show  you  to-day, 
we  know  that  that  is  the  spot,  because  there 
is  no  other  inn  in  the  place,  and  because  that 
thing  can  not  change  any  more  than  the  Mou: 
of  Olives  or  the  site  of  Jerusalem.  Bethlehem 
is  a  small  place,  and  that  inn  has  been  there  from 
time  immemorial,  and  that  grotto  was  used 
simply  because  there  was  no  room  in  the  inn. 
The  history  of  this  inn  where  Jesus  was  born  goe&y^4^",  *iP 
to  the  remote  past.  It  was  the  home  originally  g  &~  ft 
of  Boaz,  who  was  a  wealthy  man.  And  then  s- 
Obed  was  born  there,  and  Jesse,  and  David  was 
born  in  that  very  house.  It  was  land  that  was 


28      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

in  perpetuity  for  all  the  descendants  of  Boaz  and 
of  David.  When  David  became  king-  of  Israel, 
he  built  a  fortress  over  that  house  of  Boaz ;  and 
when  he  was  running  away  from  the  enmity  of 
his  son,  one  Barzillai  was  faithful  to  him,  and 
it  became  his  property.  And  so  this  house  was 
given  to  his  son,  Chim-ham.  Now,  David 
could  n't  give  the  land,  for  it  remains  in  per- 
petuity forever,  but  he  gave  the  house.  As  long 
as  Barzillai  had  descendants  and  they  wished  to 
dwell  on  this  land,  they  could  have  his  house, 
but  the  land  was  David's  in  perpetuity.  The 
habitation  of  Chim-ham  which  is  near  Bethlehem 
was  used  by  Johanan  the  son  of  Kareah,  when  he 
departed  to  go  to  enter  into  Egypt.  Jer.  41 :  17. 
So  time  went  on  until  the  time  of  Christ. 
Most  of  the  descendants  of  Chim-ham  had  died 
and  they  had  turned  this  place  into  an  inn.  Half 
of  the  inn  was  endowed ;  that  is,  they  would  n't 
charge  any  money  for  people  that  would  come 
and  stay  there,  that  is,  teachers  and  preachers 
and  people  from  other  parts.  The  other  por- 
tion was  for  the  regular  public.  You  had  to 
come  at  the  enrollment  season.  Joseph  and  Mary 
came  up  to  Bethlehem  to  that  place  because  they  had 
to;  it  was  the  land  of  their  ancestors.  There 
was  no  room  in  that  inn  when  they  came,  so 
-^hey  went  into  the  stable,  which  was  their  own 
""property,  and  by  a  curious  thing  Jesus  was  born 
in  that  very  property,  in  that  very  spot  where, 
according  to  a  legend,  David  had  been  crowned 
king  of  the  shepherds  in  the  olden  time  when 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  29 

a  child  they  seated  Him  in  a  manger  and  it  was 
called  the  chair  or  throne  of  David,  King  of  the 
Shepherds.    It  was  His  own  property  by  rights,  and 
because  there  was  no  room  in  the  regular  inn,  He      ify. 
was  born  in  the  stable  and  they  laid  Him  in  the  '* 

•-^-  ^      -       . -  ,    > 

manger.     But  the  land  belonged  to  them.     So  we     .  .  .   /,        - 
don't  read  that  it  was  because  they  were  poor,  but 
because  there  was  no  room  in  the  inn. 

There  is  a  general  impression  that  Joseph  and 
Mary  were  very  poor.  How  do  we  get  it?  Just 
simply  from  this,  that  in  all  the  pictures  that 
we  see  painted  by  artists,  we  see  the  babe  painted 
lying  naked  in  the  straw.  Is  n't  that  contrary  to 
common  sense  and  Scripture?  What  mother 
would  dream  of  laying  a  new-born  baby  naked  tv»*QA£  , 
jp  the  straw?  Just  ask  yourself  that  question — 
unless  she  \vas  stupid.  And  Mary.  Mary  the  de- 
scendant of  King  David,  Mary  who  had  found 
favor  with  God,  Mary  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel, 
Mary  to  do  such  a  thing !  It  would  be  impossible. 
The  commonest  and  stupidest  woman  in  our  land 
must  weave  swaddling  garments  for  her  first- 
born child.  And  instead  of  doing  that,  Mary 
had  the  garments  of  the  royal  house  of  David, 
which  were  handed  down  from  generation  to 
generation,  so  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  her 
baby  to  be  found  lying  naked  in  the  straw. 

Again,  it  is  contrary  to  Scripture.  One  of 
the  signs  by  which  the  shepherds  were  to  know 
the  child  was  that  they  would  find  Him  wrapped 
in  swaddling  clothes.  And  yet  all  our  artists 
paint  this  babe  naked,  because  they  say  it  is 


30      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

so  pretty;  and  so  for  imaginary  prettiness  we 
sacrifice  the  historical  record,  because  the  Scrip- 
tures say  that  shall  be  the  sign,  "Ye  shall  find 
Him  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes." 

I  have  a  set  of  swaddling  clothes  here,  a  royal 
set  of  swaddling  clothes  such  as  Jesus  had,  which 
we  have  amongst  the  people  at  the  present  day. 
(The  lecturer  produced  the  different  garments 
and  explained  them  as  she  continued.)  First  of 
all,  here  is  a  garment  such  as  Mary  would  have 
worn.  Mary  was  a  princess  of  the  House  of  Da- 
vid, and  she  was  a  virgin;  and  so,  as  a  princess 
and  a  virgin  her  garment  would  be  blue ;  that  is  a 
sign  of  her  virginity  and  her  royalty.  The  princes 
of  the  House  of  David  all  wore  garments  of  dif- 
ferent cloths.  Mary's  would  be  of  this  beautiful 
royal  blue,  all  woven  with  gold.  She  is  a  candle- 
stick of  the  Lord,  so  there  is  the  candlestick  all 
woven  in  gold  thread,  so  that  everybody  would 
know  that  Mary  was  a  candlestick  of  the  House 
of  David,  and  a  handmaid  of  the  Lord. 

Now,  Mary  would  have  to  have  a  white  gar- 
ment like  this  over  her  head.  (Indicating.)  This 
is  the  way  she  went  about  until  she  came  to  Beth- 
lehem, and  everybody  would  know,  "Why,  Mary, 
she  is  a  virgin  of  the  Lord,  and  she  is  in  the  tem- 
ple, the  candlestick  of  the  House  of  David."  You 
can  tell  everybody  in  the  temple  by  the  garments 
that  they  wear. 

Now,  Mary  is  going  to  become  a  mother.  She 
has  come  to  Bethlehem.  She  still  wears  the  vir- 
gin's garments,  but  now  the  time  has  come  when 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  31 

Mary  was  to  be  a  mother.  And  so  Mary  takes 
off  the  outward  garment,  this  white  silk  one  here, 
and  she  must  throw  it  over  the  manger.  Now  she 
must  take  off  her  silken  garment  with  the  candle- 
stick of  the  Lord  upon  it,  for  now  the  one  that  is 
to  be  born  is  to  be  the  candlestick;  He  is  the  light 
of  the  world.  So  she  puts  her  garment  over  the 
manger  in  this  fashion  (indicating). 

Now,  she  must  have  another  garment  here,  a 
swaddling  garment,  and  this  swaddling  garment 
is  of  white  silk  (indicating).  The  shepherds  have 
to  find  all  of  these  things.  This  garment  is  of 
white  silk,  striped  with  blue;  that  shows  that  it  is 
a  royal  child.  Blue  is  a  sign  of  royal  blood,  and 
that  is  where  you  get  your  expression  "blue 
blood."  Part  of  this  swaddling  garment  would 
hang  over  the  other  garment  in  this  fashion  (indi- 
cating). 

Now,  the  genealogy  of  this  child  is  to  be  reck- 
oned with.  Besides  the  royal  house,  He  comes 
from  the  House  of  Boaz  through  Ruth,  and  they 
must  bring  the  sign  of  the  mother's  family.  So 
this  red  garment  would  be  from  the  land  of  Moab, 
and  would  show  that  the  blood  of  the  land  of 
Moab  flowed  through  His  veins. 

What  else  is  this  child  to  be?  This  child 
is  to  save  the  whole  world  from  their  sins,  so 
He  has  to  have  a  swaddling  garment  of  many 
colors  to  show  that  He  was  a  universal  man,, 
that  in  His  veins  flowed  the  blood  of  all  na- 
tions, of  people  of  every  condition  of  life — a 
garment  of  many  colors.  You  read  that  Jacob 


32      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

made  his  son  Joseph  a  coat  of  many  colors.  Now 
I  have  here  a  little  coat  of  many  colors,  and  will 
show  you  what  kind  of  coat  Jacob  made  for  Jo- 
seph (indicating).  Now,  this  coat  is  all  woven  in 
many  colors.  Why  did  Jacob  make  his  son  Jo- 
seph a  coat  of  many  colors?  Because  he  chose 
Joseph  to  be  chieftain  and  leader  over  all  his 
brethren.  When  a  man  has  a  son  whom  he  wants 
to  take  his  place,  to  be  the  heir,  he  will  make  for 
his  son  a  coat  of  many  colors,  and  when  that  son 
puts  on  that  coat,  everybody  knows  that  he  is  the 
chieftain  of  all  the  tribes.  Now,  when  Joseph's 
brethren  saw  him  coming  along  in  that  coat,  that 
is  why  they  said  :  "Ha,  ha  !  So  father  intends  to 
make  him  ruler  over  us  !  We  will  kill  him."  They 
wanted  to  kill  him.  They  did  n't  kill  him,  but 
they  took  his  coat  off,  and  put  him  in  a  pit,  and 
took  the  coat  and  dipped  it  in  blood  and  brought 
it  to  the  father  and  said,  "Look  here,  is  this  thy 
son's  coat?"  If  Joseph  had  had  this  coat  when 
the  Midianites  came  along,  they  would  have 
bowed  down  to  Joseph,  because  they  would  have 
^,  known  that  his  father  had  chosen  him  to  be  chief- 
tain of  the  tribe,  and  they  would  have  given  Jo- 
seph a  band  of  soldiers  to  go  and  establish  his 
right  as  chieftain  of  all  the  tribe.  Had  he  had  the 
coat  on  when  he  went  to  Egypt,  Pharaoh  would 
have  given  him  a  regiment  to  help  him  establish 
his  right.  But  when  they  took  his  coat  away 
from  him,  poor  Joseph  was  nothing  but  a  white 
slave,  and  they  could  take  him  and  sell  him. 
When  Jacob  saw  the  coat  he  burst  into  tears, 


t. 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  33 

and  said,  "Alas!  alas!  Some  wild  animal  has 
eaten  him  up."  If  you  turn  to  I  Chronicles,  fifth 
chapter  and  second  verse,  you  will  read,  "But  the 
birthright  was  Joseph's" — that  is  why  he  had  the 
coat  of  many  colors — "but  Judah  prevailed  against 
his  brethren."  So  the  coat  of  many  colors  is 
typical  of  the  rainbow.  God  made  a  covenant  with 
Noah  by  sending  the  rainbow  to  promise  him  that 
He  would  never  destroy  man  by  flood  in  this  world. 
And  so  a  man  makes  for  his  heir  a  coat  of  many 
colors  to  signify  and  typify  that  as  long  as  he  has  an 
heir  his  household  will  never  be  destroyed.  And  so 
the  Christ  had  to  have  a  swaddling  garment  of  many 
colors,  to  represent  God's  promise  to  the  world,  and 
He  was  the  one  that  was  to  have  in  His  vejns__the 
blood  of  all  people^  and  to  save  them  from  their 
sins.  Now,  this  belonged  to  one  of  the  prince 
shepherds,  and  he  had  in  his  veins  the  blood  of 
various  chieftains  of  many  tribes.  And  so  it 
belonged  to  a  chieftain  on  the  other  side  of 
Jordan.  So  here  you  will  find  that  the  babe 
is  wrapped  in  this,  and  everybody  knows  now 
all  about  His  history. 

Now,  what  else  is  there?  Here  we  have  two 
swaddling  bands  (indicating).  This  is  a  swad- 
dling band  of  white  linen,  beautifully  embroidered 
with  silver  thread.  That  is  one  band,  and  then 
here  is  another  swaddling  band,  embroidered  with 
the  history  of  the  Garden  of  Eden.  Both  sides  are 
exactly  the  same.  There  is  the  Tree  of  Good  and 
Evil,  and  the  Tree  of  Life.  And  here  is  the  other 

band,  to  show  that  this  is  a  royal  child. 
3 


34      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

Now  then,  there  is  still  another  swaddling 
cloth  and  that  is  the  greatest  of  all  (indicating). 
This  here  is  the  shepherds'  plaid.  This  is  all 
woven  out  of  silk,  with  blocks  of  gold.  When 
you  come  to  know  that  this  swaddling  garment 
here  is  over  five  hundred  years  old  by  its  geneal- 
ogy, you  will  be  astonished  to  think  that  that 
could  be  such  beautiful  work,  all  woven  by  hand. 
This  gold  has  been  sewed  in  with  a  needle  made  of 
wire,  and  then  cut  round.  This  represents  the 
plaid  of  the  King  of  the  Shepherds.  Tradition 
tells  us  that  David's  swaddling  garment  was  like 
this ;  and  this  was  the  same  kind  of  plaid  that  the 
child  Jesus  was  wrapped  up  in,  for  He  was  King 
of  the  Shepherds.  These  patterns  are  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation,  and  they  call 
them  the  patterns  of  the  Lord.  These  patterns 
tell  you  the  religion  of  the  people.  Their  whole 
genealogy  and  religion  are  woven  in  their  pat- 
terns ;  instead  of  writing  it  in  books  it  is  embroid- 
ered. To-day  we  have  changes  in  certain  por- 
tions of  the  country,  where  Western  schools  have 
come  and  are  teaching  their  own  embroidery ;  and 
the  old  people  do  n't  like  it,  because  they  say  that 
the  young  people  are  beginning  to  lose  their  his- 
tory, because  the  girls  no  longer  are  embroidering 
as  they  used  to.  So  this  is  called  the  pattern  of 
the  Lord. 

I  was  sitting  one  day  amongst  these  people, 
and  I  heard  some  old  people,  who  were  sitting  un- 
der a  tree — the  youngest  of  them  was  about  sixty 
years  old — and  they  had  their  heads  together, 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  35 

and  they  were  saying,  "We  have  let  the  water  out 
of  the  well."  I  thought  to  myself,  "I  wonder 
what  they  are  up  to?"  I  came  up  to  them.  I  will 
tell  you  the  bond  I  have  with  the  people  of  the 
country.  Besides  being  born  and  brought  up 
amongst  them,  I  have  a  bond  of  union  with  them, 
and  that  is  that  when  I  was  born  my  mother  could 
not  nurse  me,  and  I  had  to  have  a  native  woman  as 
a  nurse.  There  was  the  wife  of  a  native  chieftain 
who  was  a  great  friend  of  my  mother's.  She  had 
a  sister  and  a  son,  and  her  sister's  son  died,  and 
she  gave  her  child  to  her  sister,  and  she  took  me 
to  suckle  instead  of  her  son.  And  so  they  say  I 
have  sucked  boy's  milk,  and  so  I  am  called  by 
them  a  son.  They  say  that  because  I  have  sucked 
their  milk,  their  blood  flows  in  my  veins.  I  am 
their  daughter  and  their  son.  And  so  here  I  sat, 
and  I  gave  them  the  sign  that  I  belonged  to  them, 
and  I  said,  "What  are  you  doing?"  They  said, 
"We  have  let  the  water  out  of  the  well,  because 
we  want  to  get  the  pattern  of  the  Lord."  And  I 
asked,  "Where  is  the  pattern  of  the  Lord?"  "It 
is  down  in  the  well,  in  a  secret  basin  in  the  bottom W-VM/V\  v 
of  the  well."  I  said,  "All  right,  I  want  to  go  down  cv>^|0  ' 
and  see  the  pattern  for  myself."  They  said,  "You 
must  take  the  oath  that  you  will  never  reveal  it." 
So  I  took  the  oath.  I  looked  down  in  the  well; 
it  was  deep  and  black,  and  there  was  a  rope  lad- 
der to  go  down.  I  went  down  with  them  and  saw 
that  the  well  was  emptied  of  water.  It  was  a  well 
that  had  been  cut  out  of  the  rock,  and  it  had  been 
plastered  over.  Here  was  a  place  where  they  had 


36      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

knocked  the  plaster  off,  and  as  the  plaster  fell 
off  of  it  there  was  a  stone  that  had  been  rolled  in 
the  rock,  showing  an  entrance  into  another  cham- 
ber. And  they  took  out  the  stone  which  had  been 
rolled  in.  There  was  a  narrow  passage  about  two 
yards  long,  and  when  we  had  passed  through  that 
we  came  into  another  little  rock-cut  chamber,  and 
this  was  full  of  all  kinds  of  patterns,  carved  out  in 
marble,  and  on  pottery,  colored  and  otherwise, 
of  the  most  beautiful  designs  and  colors  that  you 
ever  saw  in  your  life.  Then  they  picked  out  what 
they  called  the  pattern  of  the  Lord,  and  brought 
it  up  to  the  sunshine.  Here  was  the  modern  Ly- 
dia,  with  her  girls,  that  do  fine  embroidery  and 
make  the  patterns  and  weave  the  genealogy  of 
their  people  (indicating).  You  see  this  hand-em- 
broidered veil ;  it  tells  the  whole  history  of  the 
people.  Both  sides  of  it  are  embroidered  exactly 
alike.  And  that  means,  as  you  are  aware  yourself, 
•  you  must  remember  that  you  must  never  have  a 
"wrong  side  to  your  life,  it  must  always  be  the 
right  side.  So  that  is  what  it  teaches  them :  that 
they  must  ever  bear  in  mind  there  must  be  no 
wrong  side  of  life.  (Indicating)  And  here  are 
the  silks  with  which  they  embroider  them;  just 
floss  silk,  the  native  silk  of  the  country. 

I  will  now  show  you  different  patterns,  such 
as  have  been  taught  to-day  in  some  of  the  schools. 
(Indicating)  You  see  what  a  gaudy  pattern  that 
is,  and  you  can  understand  why  the  old  people 
have  such  righteous  wrath  against  such  a  pattern, 
because  it  means  to  them  nothing.  (Indicating) 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  37 

But  this  means  their  ancient  history ;  it  speaks  to 
them  of  the  salvation  through  the  ark;  it  speaks 
to  them  about  Noah  and  all  the  prophets  and 
kings,  because  in  it  is  woven  the  history  of  their 
people.  But  this  (indicating  the  modern  pattern) 
is  nothing  to  them  at  all.  So  you  read  about  the 
modern  Lydia,  the  seller  of  purple  and  fine  linen. 
She  would  sell  all  these  patterns  of  the  Lord,  and 
would  have  fifty  to  one  hundred  maidens  doing 
this  beautiful  embroidery.  And  they  came  and 
began  to  match  the  colors  and  embroider  the  pat- 
tern. Then  came  one  of  the  carvers,  and  he  began 
to  carve  that  pattern  on  a  crude  piece  of  stone, 
and  another  on  a  piece  of  mother-of-pearl.  How 
they  do  this  I  do  n't  know.  This  pin  that  I  have 
here  (indicating)  was  simply  carved  with  a  rude 
instrument.  Another  man  began  to  paint  upon  a 
piece  of  pottery  or  marble  the  pattern  of  the  Lord. 
And  after  they  had  copied  it,  this  pattern  of  the 
Lord  in  marble,  with  a  great  deal  of  ceremony 
was  taken  back  down  into  the  well  and  put  back 
in  the  chamber,  and  the  stone  was  rolled  to  the 
mouth  of  the  chamber,  and  they  plastered  the 
stone  over  and  turned  the  water  on ;  and  for  what 
I  know  that  pattern  of  the  Lord  still  lies  in  that 
well  to-day.  Explorers  in  our  country  sometimes 
come  upon  these  things  and  wonder  what  they 
mean ;  but  we  know  that  they  are  the  patterns  of 
the  Lord  that  have  been  hid  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  or  in  the  caves.  That  is  how  we  keep  them 
secret,  and  it  is  only  in  their  sayings  and  songs 
that  we  can  find  out  about  the  histories  of  these 


38      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

people.  For  into  the  web  of  the  Palestine  em- 
broideries and  weavings  is  woven  all  that  is  funda- 
mental in  our  romances,  our  tales  and  our  religious 
mysticism. 

Now  then,  comes  this  pattern  of  the  Lord  (in- 
dicating) ;  this  would  be  the  pattern  of  the  House 
of  David,  and  it  would  have  been  handed  down, 
and  Mary  would  have  had  this  to  show  that  she 
was  of  the  royal  House  of  David;  and  the  child 
Jesus  would  have  been  wrapped  in  the  same  swad- 
T  f  r/  dling  garments  that  belonged  to  David.  For  He 
was  to  put  on  the  seed  of  David,  and  so  this  pat- 
tern of  the  Lord  would  be  arranged  here,  the 
royal  swaddling  garment  of  the  shepherd  king. 

So  here  lay  the  child  in  this  manger,  and 
there  must  have  been  beautiful  flowers  and  ever- 
greens and  palm  trees.  For  every  child  that  is 
born  in  the  East,  a  wreath  of  evergreen  and  a 
potted  palm  is  brought,  in  order  to  show  that  it 
is  an  immortal  soul.  Where  do  you  get  your 
idea  of  the  Christmas  tree?  From  us.  The  ever- 
-~*3  green  is  to  show  that  that  child  is  an  immortal 
soul.  So  here  there  will  be  also  a  lamp  (indicat- 
ing), a  seven-branched  candlestick.  And  so  it 
was  with  the  shepherds. 

With  the  shepherds  now  we  come  to  Bethle- 
hem. We  come  to  the  door  of  the  inn,  and  say  to 
the  innkeeper  or  porter,  "Where  is  the  family 
from  Nazareth,  of  the  House  of  David?"  Every 
one  that  cotnes  has  to  bring  their  ensign  with 
them.  They  had  come  up  officially.  Joseph  and 
Mary  didn't  come  up  as  two  tramps,  did  they? 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  39 

They  came  up,  why?  Because,  you  must  know, 
they  were  of  the  lineage  of  the  House  of  David, 
and  so  they  came  up  as  representative  people  of 
the  most  renowned  house  in  the  country,  who  were 
originally  natives  of  Bethlehem,  and  who  still  had 
property  in  it,  for  they  had  for  generations  paid 
the  land  tax  which  Joseph  and  Mary  now  had  come 
to  pay,  and  the  owners  must  be  found  where  theirQ^t^,^  ^ 
property  is  at  the  time  of  the  tax  gathering.  And  -Htit/ 
so  we  say  to  the  porter,  "Where  is  the  family?; 
Where  are  those  of  the  House  of  David?"  And 
he  says,  "Why,  don't  you  see?  Look  over  there 
and  you  will  find  them."  You  will  find  them, 
how?  By  their  ensign.  Here  would  be  the  en- 
sign of  the  House  of  David  (indicating).  This 
is  a  root  of  Jesse  of  the  House  of  David.  You 
can  tell  always  by  that  sign  the  descent  of  the 
man.  "And  so,  for  the  Christ,  in  that  day,  there 
shall  be  the  root  of  the  House  of  Jesse,  which  shall 
stand  for  an  ensign  of  the  people.  To  it  shall  the 
Gentiles  come."  And  he  says,  "You  go  there  under 
the  arcade  and  you  can  find  them,  and  tell  them  by 
their  ensign."  So,  as  we  come  along,  we  stumble 
over  camels  and  sleeping  horses  and  bags  of 
grain,  and  stumble,  and  stumble.  They  see  a 
baby  in  the  manger.  How  could  they  know  one 
from  another?  It  is  said  that  there  were  twelve 
babies  in  the  mangers  when  Jesus  was  born  in_  . 
Bethlehem,  which  represented  the  number  of  the  *•>**•> 
Apostles.  It  is  a  very  common  thing  to  find  a 
baby  in  a  manger.  The  wives  of  the  camel  driv- 
ers, and  the  women  who  do  the  work  in  the  inn 


40      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

place  their  children  in  the  manger  because  it  is  an 
easy  place.  And  now  there  were  thousands  of 
people  who  had  come  from  all  parts  of  the  coun- 
try, and  there  being  no  room  in  the  inn,  it  was  a 
natural  thing  to  find  a  baby  in  a  manger.  And 
how  would  you  know  one  baby  from  another,  ex- 
cept by  the  ensign  and  the  swaddling  clothes  of 
its  clan  and  its  tribe?  And  the  shepherds  came 
along  and  said,  "There  is  a  baby  in  the  manger," 
and  they  said,  "Do  n't  you  see  that  that  is  the  en- 
sign of  the  House  of  Ishmael?  We  want  to  find 
the  ensign  of  the  House  of  David?  Another  they 
find,  but  it  is  not  the  one.  O,  where  can  they  be, 
that  family  from  the  House  of  David?  "O,  look! 
look !  look !"  says  one  to  the  other.  "Do  n't  you 
see?  There  it  is!  the  root  of  the  House  of  Da- 
vid !  There  is  the  rod  of  the  House  of  Ephraim  ; 
both  of  them  joined  together.  They  are  of  the 
House  of  David!" 

So  the  shepherds  came  to  them,  and  bowed 
low  before  Joseph  and  Mary,  and  said,  "May  this 
newcomer  be  a  blessing  unto  you."  And  Joseph 
and  Mary  said  to  them:  "And  may  you  shep- 
herds likewise  receive  such  a  blessing.  Enter, 
you  messengers  of  God."  So  the  shepherds  came 
and  brought  their  offerings  of  lambs  and  laid  them 
before  the  child.  And  they  looked  at  the  babe  and 
said,  "There  is  the  swaddling  garment  of  which  the 
angel  spoke."  And  the  chief  shepherd  says,  "We 
were  just  now  in  the  field,  and  a  great  light  shone, 
and  a  great  angel  came  among  us  and  said  to  us, 
'Unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of  David  a 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  41 

Savior  which  is  Christ  the  Lord,  and  this  shall 
be  the  sign :  you  shall  find  Him  wrapped  in  swad- 
dling clothes,  in  the  plaid  of  the  King  of  the 
Shepherds.'  And  so  here  we  find  Him  just  as  the 
angel  told  us."  And  Mary  sat  up  among  her 
friends  and  said:  "So  the  angel  has  appeared  to 
you,  just  as  the  angel  appeared  to  me  when  he  an- 
nounced the  birth  of  our  child.  It  is  the  fulfill- 
ment of  prophecy.  You  know,  O  shepherds,  you 
know  how  it  is  written  in  the  prophets."  And 
here  Mary,  who  was  the  daughter  of  the  temple, 
would  open  the  manuscript  and  would  read  to 
them.  "You  know  how  it  is  written  in  the  proph- 
ets ;  our  Prophet  Isaiah,  how  he  prophesied  about 
this  time:  'But  the  people  that  walk  in  darkness 
have  seen  a  great  light.  They  that  dwell  in  the 
land  of  the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath  the 
light  shined.'  And  so,  O  friend  shepherd,  you 
have  fulfilled  the  prophecy.  Upon  you,  according 
to  the  Scriptures,  hath  the  light  shone.  You  who 
dwell  in  the  shadow  of  death,  to  you  have  the 
angels  appeared  and  informed  you  that  the  light 
of  the  world  is  come,  and  now  that  He  is  come  it 
becomes  us  to  light  the  lamp.  You  have  an- 
nounced to  us  His  coming.  And  now  we  shall 
light  His  lamp.  He  is  the  light  of  the  world. 
Arise,  shine,  for  thy  light  is  come,  and  the  glory 
of  the  Lord  is  risen  upon  man." 

And  so  here  Mary  proceeded  to  light 
seven-branched  candlestick.  Now,  from  time  im- 
memorial the  seven-branched  candlestick  is  re- 
garded as  being  the  most  holy  thing  that  the 


42      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

Jews  have  in  the  temple.  You  read  that  it  was 
in  the  Holy  of  Holies.  You  find  how  holy  and 
how  precious  it  was  even  regarded  by  foreign  na- 
tions :  for  when  the  Romans  took  the  children  of 
Israel  into  captivity,  the  first  thing  they  did  was 
to  take  their  golden  candlesticks.  Go  to  Rome 
to-day  and  look  upon  the  famous  Arch  of  Titus, 
,  and  you  will  find  in  the  center  of  the  arch,  as  a 
keystone,  a  sculptured  seven-branched  candle- 
stick, to  show  that  they  had  taken  it  away  from 
the  Jews.  The  seven-branched  candlestick  typi- 
fies that  God  created  the  world  in  six  days,  and 
the  seventh  day  He  blessed  and  hallowed  it;  and 
that  was  the  birth  or  rather  the  coronation  day  of 
man,  when  he  was  made  king,  and  God  said, 
"Have  dominion  over  everything."  And  this 
candlestick  is  also  called  the  candlestick  of  God; 
for  God  had  seven  spirits — you  read  about  the 
seven  spirits  burning  before  the  throne  of  God. 
You  read  in  Revelation  about  the  Son  of  man 
walking  in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candle- 
sticks. And  so  the  meaning  of  this  candlestick 
is,  the  three  in  the  center  are  called  the  trinity  of 
God.  The  first  is,  God  is  omnipresent;  God  is 
omnipotent;  God  is  omniscient.  Now,  this  is 
called  the  Holy  Trinity  of  God.  (Here  the  lec- 
turer lights  the  candles).  Now  then,  God  is  jus- 
tice, God  is  truth.  That  is  called  the  great  power 
of  God,  the  hand  of  God.  The  fifth,  holy,  for  He 
has  created  all  worlds,  all  powers  are  in  His 
hands,  He  hath  dominion  over  everything  by  the 
power  of  His  hand,  and  by  that  hand  He  rules 


The  Nativity  of  Christ  43 

in  justice  and  in  truth;  omnipresent,  omnipotent, 
and  omniscient. 

Ah,  but  what  else  is  there  of  God?  God  is 
bounded.  You  say,  "How  can  God  be  bounded?" 
God  is  bounded,  though  He  is  omnipotent  and 
omnipresent  and  all-powerful,  yet  He  is  bounded 
by  mercy  and  by  love.  So  those  are  called  the 
mercy  seat  of  God — mercy  and  love  on  either  side 
of  Him.  And  so  that  is  the  meaning  of  the  seven- 
branched  candlestick. 

And  as  Mary  lit  this  candlestick  she  said: 
"For  thou  wilt  light  my  candle ;  the  Lord  my  God 
will  enlighten  my  darkness.  Now  has  been  ful- 
filled the  saying  of  our  great  ancestor  David, 
For  his  candlestick  has  been  lit.  He  prayed  that 
the  Lord  should  light  his  candle,  and  He  now  has 
enlightened  the  darkness  of  the  world.  The  spirit 
of  man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  and  so  the  Spirit 
of  God  now  has  come,  in  His  own  blessed  Son, 
for  the  angels  revealed  to  me  that  He  was  the 
Son  of  God,  born  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  And  so,  as 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  man,  He  is  the  candle  of  the 
Lord,  and  the  candlestick  for  the  light  of  the 
world  has  come,  and  His  name  is  Jesus."  And  all 
the  shepherds  bowed  down  and  worshiped  Him, 
and  Mary  kneeled  down  with  them  in  prayer  as 
they  all  worshiped  the  child  Jesus  and  sang  in 
chorus :  "The  light  of  the  world  has  come.  Im- 
manuel,  God  is  with  us,  Christ  is  born  in  Bethle- 
hem." And  so  the  shepherds  praised  and  glori- 
fied God,  and  they  went  out  glorifying  God,  and 
you  read  that  soon  all  Bethlehem  heard  and 


44      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

wondered  at  the  things  that  the  shepherds  had 
told  them. 

And  so  in  Bethlehem,  of  Judea,  in  His  own 
homeland,  in  that  inn  of  His  ancestors,  the  home 
of  Boaz,  was  born  Jesus,  that  is  Christ,  fulfilling 
all  the  prophecies  made  about  Him,  that  He  was 
to  put  on  the  seed  of  David.  Therefore,  was  not 
He  the  son  of  David?  But,  as  the  angel  said: 
"Unto  you  is  born  this  day  in  the  city  of  David 
a  Savior  which  is  Christ  the  Lord,  and  this  shall 
be  the  sign:  you  shall  find  Him  wrapped  in 
swaddling  clothes  of  the  shepherds'  clan.  Glory 
to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace,  good  will 
towards  men.  The  light  of  the  world  has  shone !" 


II. 

The  Childhood  of  Jesus. 


THE  CHILDHOOD  OF  JESUS. 

Last  night  we  saw  the  shepherds  at  the  man- 
ger, and  we  saw  the  seven-branched  candlestick 
lit,  and  we  found  that  Jesus  was  born  in  a  stable  .  .^J" 
and  laid  in  a  manger,  not  because  the  family 
were  too  poor,  but  because  there  was  no  room  in 
the  inn.  There  is  a  general  impression  that  Jo-  ' 
seph  and  Mary  were  very  poor,  and  we  get  that 
idea  because  we  read  that  the  babe  was  born  in 
a  stable  and  laid  in  a  manger.  But  we  have  now 
comprehended  it  from  a  different  standpoint.  It 
does  not  say  because  they  were  poor,  but  "be- 
cause there  was  no  room  in  the  inn."  We 
have  n't  got  a  word  of  authority  in  the  Bible, 
after  all,  that  they  were  very  poor;  we  have  sim- 
ply jumped  at  the  conclusion.  The  idea  of  pov- 
erty was  because  of  the  stable,  and  because  in 
Luke  it  says,  when  they  came  to  do  for  the  child 
according  to  law,  they  brought  a  pair  of  turtle 
doves  and  pigeons,  and  there  the  recorder 
stopped. 

Now,  the  old  Levitical  law  was  that  they  were 
to  bring  a  lamb  to  be  sacrificed  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  soul  of  the  child,  and  doves  and  pig- 
eons were  brought  as  an  offering  and  atonement 
for  the  mother.  The  Levitical  law  went  on  to 
47 


«*/ 


48      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

say  that  if  the  parents  were  too  poor  to  bring  a 
lamb,  they  could  omit  the  lamb,  but  they  must 
bring  the  doves  and  the  pigeons;  and  we  have 
jumped  to  the  conclusion  that  they  could  not  af- 
ford to  bring  the  lamb.  The  recorder  mentions 
nothing  more,  and  we  have  just  come  to  that  con- 
clusion. 

Now,  there  was  a  greater  reason  than  poverty 
for  Mary  not  to  bring  a  lamb.  Mary  could  not 
1  possibly  have  been  so  poor  as  not  to  bring  a  lamb, 
because  a  lamb  in  that  country  costs  only  fifty 
cents.  But  suppose  she  was  too  poor  to  pay  the 
fifty  cents,  how  about  the  shepherds  that  came? 
Every  shepherd  that  comes  to  pay  you  an  ordi- 
nary visit  must  bring  you  a  lamb  as  a  present  in 
his  bosom.  But  at  a  birth  they  must  bring  three: 
one  to  be  sacrificed  for  the  body,  one  for  the  soul, 
and  one  for  the  spirit.  Now,  every  shepherd  that 
came  up  to  the  birth  of  Jesus  must  have  brought 
three  lambs,  at  any  rate  two:  for  body  and  soul. 
At  an  ordinary  visit  they  bring  you  a  lamb. 
Every  time  I  go  back  to  Palestine,  when  my 
shepherd  friends  come  to  pay  me  a  visit,  they  all 
bring  a  lamb  in  their  bosom,  and  I  have  got  a 
flock  of  sheep! 

The  angels  took  the  trouble  to  come  down 
from  heaven  and  announce  to  the  shepherds  that 
their  King  was  born;  that  He  was  born  in  the 
City  of  David,  and  that  He  was  Christ  the  Lord. 
Every  shepherd  must  have  brought,  three  lambs 
and  laid  them  at  the  manger. 

How,  how  about  Zacharias?     He  was  a  chief 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  49 

priest  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  He  was  a  wealthy 
man.  You  can  go  to  the  ruins  of  his  palatial 
house  in  the  hill  country  of  Judea  to-day.  He 
had  hundreds  of  lambs  grazing  on  the  hillsides. 
Would  he  allow  his  niece  Mary  to  come  to  Jeru- 
salem with  the  Christ  as  a  pauper,  without  hav- 
ing a  lamb?  Zacharias  knew  who  the  Christ  was. 
His  own  son  had  been  sent,  through  God,  to  be  a 
special  messenger,  to  prepare  the  .vay  for  this 
child.  Would  Zacharias  dream  of  such  a  thing 
as  to  allow  Mary  to  go  to  Jerusalem  as  a  pauper, 
with  the  Christ,  to  the  temple?  When  Mary 
comes  to  visit  Elizabeth,  Elizabeth  kneels  down 
before  her  and  says,  "How  does  it  come  that 
the  mother  of  my  Lord  cometh  to  me?"  And 
was  n't  she  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  did 
she  not  break  out  in  a  loud  voice  and  exclaim,  in 
glorification  to  God,  that  the  performance  of  this 
would  take  place?  Because  Mary  believed  in 
what  the  Lord  had  told  her.  Would  it  be  possi- 
ble for  Zacharias  and  Elizabeth  to  allow  Mary 
to  come  down  to  Jerusalem,  when  this  was  the 
Christ,  and  for  this  reason  their  own  child  had 
been  born  as  a  messenger  to  prepare  the  way  for 
Him? 

Now,  when  an  infant  is  born  in  a  stable  in  an 
inn,  which  is  very  often  the  case,  especially  a 
first-born  child,  it  becomes  the  public  property 
of  the  people  in  the  inn.  All  the  donkey  boys  and 
camel  drivers  and  mule  boys  say,  "Glory  to  God ! 
We  have  a  baby  of  our  own  down  in  the  stable. 
He  is  ours,  glory  and  praise  to  God,  a  boy,  a  first- 
4 


H  i  <r  * , 


50      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

born,  a  boy,  a  boy,  a  boy!"  And  what  rejoicing 
there  would  be  that  that  child  belonged  to  them, 
and  the  boys  would  spend  every  nickel  they  had 
to  buy  a  present  for  this  boy.  Everybody  would 
*f  bring  a  present  and  lay  it  down  before  that  man- 
ger— the  boy,  the  first-born  boy!  And  every 
guest  in  the  inn  must  dower  this  child,  which  is 
called  Trekoot,  and  so  every  guest  would  come  and 
bring  silver  and  gold  and  bags  of  money,  silks,  and 
perfumes,  and  lay  them  before  the  boy,  the  first- 
born. And  the  women  would  say,  "A  first-born,  a 
boy ;  we  must  take  off  our  jewels  and  lay  them  be- 
fore this  boy."  So  it  must  have  been  for  the  Christ, 
for  He  was  a  first-born  boy. 

Now,  if  Jesus  had  been  born  in  the  palace, 
which  was  only  a  few  hundred  yards  away  from 
the  inn,  He  would  have  belonged  to  some  little 
bit  of  a  race  of  the  Jewish  people,  just  a  little 
handful.  But  Jesus,  though  He  came  as  King  of 
the  Jews,  did  n't  come  simply  to  save  the  Jews. 
No,  He  came  to  save  the  whole  world  from  their 
sins.  He  put  on  the  seed  of  David  through  the 
Jewish  race,  but  He  did  n't  come  to  save  only  the 
Jews.  Had  He  been  born  in  that  little  old  palace 
there,  He  would  only  have  belonged  to  the  Jews ; 
but  He  belonged  to  the  whole  world,  and  that  is 
why  He  was  born  in  a  stable,  because  the  stable 
belonged  to  the  whole  world.  Who  would  dare 
to  take  Him  a  present  over  to  the  palace?  You 
know  there  is  so  much  red  tape  about  this  roy- 
alty, that  they  would  have  to  ask  permission. 
You  in  your  country  have  a  lot  of  red  tape.  A 


•       The  Childhood  of  Jesus  51 

few  years  ago,  when  Prince  Henry  came  to  this 
country,  he  brought  a  present  for  the  President 
from  Emperor  William.  It  is  against  the  laws 
and  Constitution  of  the  United  States  for  any 
President  to  accept  a  present  from  a  reigning  sov- 
ereign, without  the  consent  of  the  people.  There- 
fore they  would  have  had  to  have  a  special  ses- 
sion of  Congress  in  order  to  get  the  consent  of 
the  people  for  your  President  to  receive  the  pres- 
ent of  the  Emperor.  Therefore,  your  President 
did  n't  receive  the  present.  And  so  you  see  even 
you  have  got  these  rules  and  regulations,  and  we 
in  the  old  world  have  got  them  so  strict  that  you 
can't  come  and  bring  a  present,  unless  you  have 
a  certain  standing  in  order  to  have  permission  to 
bring  the  present.  But  here  in  the  stable,  and  on 
this  property  that  belonged  to  Him — because 
Christ  was  born  on  the  property  of  His  ancestor 
David — anybody  could  come.  So  Jesus  was  a 
present  to  the  whole  world,  and  the  whole  world 
could  come  and  bring  Him  presents. 

Any  one  who  has  traveled  much  and  crossed 
the  Atlantic,  must  know  that  sometimes  a  baby 
is  born  in  the  steerage,  usually  of  poor  parents. 
I  was  crossing  once  on  the  Campania.  It  was 
crowded  with  first-class,  second-class,  and  steer- 
age passengers.  In  mid-ocean  it  was  announced 
that  a  baby  boy  was  born  in  the  steerage.  There 
was  great  excitement.  The  first  and  second-class 
passengers  gathered  together  and  appointed  a 
committee  to  ask  permission  of  the  captain  that 
they  might  get  up  a  collection  and  give  a  present 


52      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

to  the  baby  in  the  steerage ;  and  the  captain  said, 
all  right,  they  could  do  it.  So  they  gathered  a 
great  big  collection;  it  was  all  silver  and  paper 
and  gold — there  were  no  nickels  or  pennies  and 
that  sort  of  thing — a  fine  big  collection.  One  of 
the  gentlemen  had  just  come  from  India  and 
China,  and  had  a  great  many  silk  handkerchiefs, 
and  he  gave  one  to  the  lady,  and  they  made  a 
bag  of  it,  and  the  father  brought  the  baby  on  a 
cushion  and  laid  him  on  the  table  in  the  steerage, 
and  the  committee  made  a  speech  and  brought 
out  their  offering  to  the  little  baby.  The  father, 
in  the  name  of  the  baby,  accepted  this  present 
with  a  great  deal  of  grace.  And  then  we  found 
that  this  father  was  one  of  the  richest  cattle 
ranchmen  out  in  the  West.  He  could  have 
bought  out  the  first  and  second-class  passengers. 
He  was  a  foreigner,  and  chose  to  travel  in  the 
steerage,  but  they  got  this  present  because  the 
baby  was  born  in  the  steerage. 

So  the  same  thing  here,  and  it  is  not  because 
that  child  was  poor  that  He  was  born  in  the 
stable;  but  because  He  was  born  there,  He  be- 
longs to  everybody.  And  so  there  was  rejoicing, 
and  hallelujahs  all  over  the  inn  over  this  boy,  a 
first-born  boy,  the  greatest  blessing  that  could 
happen  to  anybody.  They  brought  their  gifts  of 
all  kinds.  And  the  men  who  had  come  to  pay 
their  taxes  to  Caesar,  brought  their  presents  and 
made  their  devotions  to  this  little  baby  down  in 
the  stable.  And  I  have  no  doubt,  as  an  Oriental- 
ist who  has  made  this  a  special  study,  that  around 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  53 

the  manger  of  our  Lord  on  that  first  Christmas 
night  there  was  enough  to  support  Him  if  He . 
had  lived  a  hundred  years. 

So  it  is  not  because  she  was  poor  that  Mary 
does  not  bring  the  lamb.  There  was  a  greater 
and  mightier  reason  than  poverty.  What  was  the 
reason?  The  lamb  was  typical  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Jesus  Christ  Himself,  the  Lamb  of  God,  had  come 
to  be  sacrificed,  and  hgw  could  He  be  redeemed 
bjr  the  sacrifice  o£  a  lamb  ?  Would  n^  it  have 
shown  that  Mary  was  a  stupid,  foolish,  ignorant 
woman,  if  she  had  brought  a  lamb  to  be  sacri- 
ficed for  her  child?  Wouldn't  it  have  shown 
that  she  would  not  believe  what  the  angel  had 
told  her:  that  her  babe  was  to  be  the  great 
sacrifice?  It  would  have  proved  at  once  that 
Mary  was  unfit  to  be  the  mother  of  the  Christ; 
that  she  was,  as  Paul  said,  still  "clinging  to 
the  beggarly  elements."  How  could  she  pos- 
sibly bring  a  lamb,  when  she,  in  the  temple, 
was  of  the  House  of  David,  and  she  was  the 
one  to  whom  the  angel  had  come  and  told  that 
this  child  was  to  rule  on  the  throne  of  His 
father  David,  and  of  His  dominion  there  should 
never  be  an  end  to  the  House  of  Jacob?  The 
annunciation  to  Mary  was,  "The  Lord  God  shall 
give  unto  Him  the  throne  of  His  father  David." 
Since  Joseph  was  not  His  father,  it  was  only 
through  His  mother  He  could  claim  that  lineage. 
Now,  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  says,  "Concern- 
ing His  son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  which  was 
made  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the 


54      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

flesh;"  and  Mary  knew  that  this  babe  was  the 
Son  of  God  and  the  Savior  of  the  world,  and  the 
Lamb  of  God,  and  she  had  constantly  read,  be- 
cause she  was  the  reader  in  the  temple,  a  sweet 
singer  of  Israel,  these  passages  every  day  of  her 
life  in  the  temple,  as  a  daughter  and  child  of  the 
temple :  "Sacrifice  and  offering  Thou  dost  not  de- 
sire ;  mine  ears  hast  Thou  opened :  burnt  offering 
and  sin  offering  hast  Thou  not  required.  Then 
said  I,  Lo,  I  come:  in  the  volume  of  the  Book 
it  is  written  of  Me,  I  delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O 
God;  yea,  Thy  law  is  within  my  heart." 

And  then  again,  Mary,  the  daughter  of  kings 
and  priests,  did  she  not  know  how  the  prophets 
had  thundered  against  the  useless  slaying  of 
sacrifices,  in  Jeremiah,  and  in  Isaiah?  God  is 
represented  as  saying:  "To  what  purpose  is  the 
multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto  Me?  I  am  full 
of  the  burnt  offerings  of  rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed 
beasts ;  and  I  delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks 
or  of  lambs  or  of  he  goats.  .  .  .  When  ye 
make  many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear ;  your  hands 
are  full  of  blood."  Had  Mary  not  seen  that  blood 
pouring  forth  in  the  temple  grounds,  that  useless- 
ness  of  the  sacrifices  that  were  daily  offered  up  in 
the  temple?  Would  she  who  knew  the  Scriptures 
so  well;  she  who  had  been  chosen  to  be  the 
mother  of  the  Christ — would  she  add  to  these 
useless  sacrifices  by  bringing  a  lamb  to  be  sac- 
rificed for  her  child?  What  does  the  apostle  say? 
"Neither  by  the  blood  of  goats  and  calves,  but 
by  His  own  blood  He  entered  in  once  into  the 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  55 

holy  place,  having  obtained  eternal  redemption 
for  us."  O  Mary,  we  think  too  little  of  that  won- 
drous character  of  Mary !  When  she  grasped  the 
situation,  when  she  understood  fully  the  meaning 
of  that  revelation  to  her  by  the  angel,  how  does 
she  break  forth  when  she  comes  to  Elizabeth? 
She  comes  to  Elizabeth  and  breaks  forth  and 
cries,  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord ;  my 
spirit  doth  rejoice  in  God  my  Savior."  She  did  n't 
say  in  the  priest  my  savior,  in  the  temple  my  sav- 
ior, in  the  sacrifice  my  savior,  but  "in  God  my 
Savior."  Look  at  the  comprehension,  the  perfect 
understanding  of  that  at-one-ment  with  God! 
With  all  our  boasted  civilization  to-day ;  with  all 
our  so-called  poets  and  poetesses,  show  me  one 
that  could  have  so  feelingly  and  spontaneously 
broken  forth,  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord, 
my  spirit  doth  rejoice  in  God  my  Savior."  She 
had  a  full  comprehension  of  the  whole  thing. 
She  would  n't  go  and  bring  a  lamb. 

But  Mary's  great  grief  came  to  her  when  she 
had  to  bring  this  lamb  to  God  as  a  living  sacri- 
fice unto  the  temple.  That  is  where  the  sword 
pierced  through  her  soul,  about  which  Simeon 
spoke.  We  do  n't  somehow  give  sufficient  atten- 
tion to  Mary,  because  we  think  the  Catholic 
Church  has  done  so  much  by  way  of  adoration 
that  we  have  got  a  sort  of  repugnance  to  the  vir- 
gin mother,  and  do  n't  give  sufficient  thought  to 
her.  We  do  n't  want  to  worship  her,  but  we  want 
to  study  that  wondrous  character.  How  did 
Mary  feel  when  Joseph  suspected  her  virtue?  Do 


56      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

we  ever  stop  to  think  that  she,  who  knew  she  was 
so  pure  and  perfect,  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord, 
would  ever  think  that  Joseph  for  one  moment 
would  suspect  her?  Now,  here  comes  Mary, 
bringing  this  child  into  the  temple.  She  has  here 
a  prominent  part  to  fill.  She  has  to  fill  the  part 
almost  of  a  priest,  for  she  is  bringing  this  Divine 
Lamb  of  God  as  a  sacrifice  into  the  temple,  flesh 
of  her  flesh,  and  blood  of  her  blood.  It  was  her 
own  flesh  and  blood  that  was  here  in  her  arms, 
and  the  legends  tell  us  that  as  she  stood  at  the 
entrance  of  the  temple,  she  wept  as  she  looked 
upon  this  beautiful  baby,  this  baby  that  had  now 
become  to  her  so  precious ;  she  kissed  it  and  loved 
it  and  said:  "O,  how  can  I  give  it  up?  O,  I 
would  give  a  thousand  lambs,  let  them  all  be 
slain,  for  Him ;  only  let  me  keep  Him !  O,  how 
can  I  give  Him  up,  so  dear  and  precious  to 
me?"  Then  suddenly  she  said:  "Strengthen  my 
heart,  O  Lord!  I  am  Thy  handmaid.  I  ask 
Thee  to  give  me  strength  to  be  able  to  give 
Him  up.  He  is  so  precious.  But  I  am  obedi- 
ent to  Thy  will,  for  I  am  Thy  handmaiden.  Must 
I  give  Him  up  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  not  as 
the  lambs  that  are  being  brought  by  the  hun- 
dreds to  the  priest,  all  slain,  with  their  blood 
flowing,  but  a  living  sacrifice?  So  she  then 
prayed,  "Strengthen  my  heart."  And  the  answer 
came,  "Thy  heart  is  strengthened,  O  Mary." 
Thus  the  unwritten  histories  tell  us  the  voice 
of  angels  said  to  her  as  she  was  entering  the 
temple. 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  57 

So  Mary  enters  in.  She  sees  Simeon  walking 
in  the  court  of  the  temple.  It  had  been  revealed 
to  him  that  he  would  not  see  death  until  he  had 
seen  the  promised  light.  And  so  here  she  was, 
coming  to  the  temple.  And  Simeon  came  for- 
ward, and  she  gave  him  this  precious  burden,  the 
Lamb  of  God,  into  his  arms.  And  Simeon,  tak- 
ing this  burden,  this  Lamb  of  God,  out  of  her 
arms  into  his,  broke  forth  exultantly  and  said, 
"Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation." 
Here  is  the  salvation  of  the  world  in  his  arms,  and 
here  his  eyes  had  seen  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gen- 
tiles, "And  the  glory  of  Thy  people  Israel."  And 
lo  and  behold !  when  Anna  came  in,  she  prayed 
and  glorified  God,  for  she  had  beheld  the  redemp- 
tion of  Israel.  And  so  here  Simeon  dedicates  Him 
before  the  thousands  of  people  that  were  gath- 
ered in  that  temple  court:  dedicated  Him  as  the 
Lamb  of  God,  and  his  eyes  had  seen  the  salvation 
of  Israel,  and  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and 
the  glory  of  the  people  of  Israel.  So,  you  see, 
Christ's  dedication  was  not  done  in  a  corner,  but 
He  was  brought  up  here  in  the  temple  as  a  living 
sacrifice.  And  that  is  why  Mary  brings  no  lamb, 
because  her  babe  was  the  Lamb  of  God  and  could 
not  be  redeemed  by  a  sacrifice. 

Mary  did  not  go  about  gossiping,  but  Mary 
kept  those  things  in  her  heart,  and  she  pondered 
over  them;  she  gave  them  deep  and  spiritual 
thought,  but  she  kept  them  quietly  in  her  heart, 
and  pondered  over  them. 


58      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 


MvUfcWr 
"Yj,, 


The  taxation  season  in  Palestine  is  a  very  in- 
teresting one,  for  the  old  conditions  still  are  in 
force  to-day.  Just  as  they  gathered  the  taxes  in 
the  olden  time,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  so  they  do 
to-day.  Palestine  to-day  is  a  Turkish  conquered 
province.  In  the  time  of  our  Lord  Palestine  was 
a  Roman  conquered  province.  In  regard  to  many 
of  our  laws,  they  are  the  same.  The  mode  of 
farming  the  taxes  is  the  same  as  in  the  olden 
time.  We  have  two  representatives  in  the  taxa- 
tion  season  :  one  a  Turk  and  the  other  an  Arab  ; 
in  the  days  of  Caesar  one  was  a  Roman  and  the 
other  a  Jew.  When  we  collect  our  taxes,  a  de- 
cree  is  sent  forth  that  on  such  and  such  a  day 
the  taxes  will  be  collected.  It  was  the  same  thing 
in  the  time  of  Caesar  Augustus.  And  there  was 
a  census  to  be  taken,  and  Caesar  Augustus  was 
going  to  register  the  titles  of  the  lands  and  enum- 
erate the  people;  and  the  same  condition  exists 
to-day.  A  decree  is  sent  forth  that  upon  such 
and  such  a  day  the  taxes  will  be  collected,  and 
the  people  will  gather  from  Dan  to  Beersheba, 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  to  have  their  claims 
settled  and  their  names  enrolled  and  to  pay  their 
taxes.  It  is  not  as  it  is  here,  just  hand  in  your 
taxes  to  the  tax  gatherer;  but  you  all  gather  at 
the  town  or  village  where  the  taxes  are  to  be  paid, 
and  they  generally  begin  with  the  lands  and  prop- 
erty in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  place  where 
the  taxes  are  to  be  paid.  They  begin  to  call  the 
names.  Persons  owning  property  in  Bethlehem 
and  Nazareth  must  be  present  all  the  time,  be- 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  59 

cause  their  names  will  be  called  among  the  very 
first,  as  belonging  to  Bethlehem,  and  among  the 
last  as  belonging  to  Nazareth.  So  we  cam  see 
why  Joseph  and  Mary  had  to  remain  there,  be- 
cause their  names  would  be  called  among  the 
first  as  well  as  the  last.  If  you  had  come  to  pay 
your  taxes,  you  would  be  gathered  there  in  the 
large  square  of  the  inn  or  of  the  village,  and  you 
would  be  seated  on  the  ground;  a  place  like  this 
platform  would  be  raised,  upon  which  would 
stand  the  tax  gatherers  and  the  scribe  and  the 
treasurer  and  several  of  the  elders  of  the  com- 
munity, and  the  tax  gatherer  would  call  out  in  a 
loud  voice. 

Now,  in  the  country  you  can  own  property, 
but  you  can  lease  it  and  you  need  not  live  there. 
But  when  the  enrollment  season  comes,  and  the 
tax  is  to  be  paid,  you  have  to  be  present  in  order 
to  testify  that  you  are  a  living  soul.  And  so 
Joseph  and  Mary  had  to  come.  The  histories 
tell  us  that  Mary  owned  her  property  in  Naza- 
reth, and  she  was  an  independent  property 
holder.  The  Bible  does  not  give  us  very  much 
information  about  Mary,  but  it  says  that  she  had 
"her  own  house."  You  remember  reading  that 
when  she  returns  to  Nazareth  from  visiting  in 
the  hill  country  of  Judea,  she  returns  to  "her  own 
house."  A  woman's  name  is  never  mentioned 
in  the  East  unless  she  is  an  independent  property 
owner,  and  sole  representative  of  her  line,  male 
and  female.  Otherwise  they  would  say  her  cous- 
in's house,  her  brother's  house,  her  nephew's 


60      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

house — some  male  relation  belonging  to  her; 
they  would  put  his  name  instead.  But  "her  own 
house"  means  that  she  was  an  independent  prop- 
erty owner,  the  sole  representative  of  her  line, 
male  and  female. 

Not  only  therefore  did  Mary  and  Joseph  own 
property  in  Nazareth,  but  Mary  and  Joseph,  be- 
ing lineal  descendants  of  the  House  of  David, 
owned  property  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Bethlehem;  because,  as  in  Great  Britain,  the 
property  is  entailed,  goes  from  father  to  son,  and 
can  never  be  sold.  You  can  dwell  in  Nazareth, 
but  at  the  enrollment  season  you  have  to  come 
and  have  it  declared  that  you  are  a  living  soul. 
So  Mary  and  Joseph  had  to  come  because  they 
were  lineal  descendants  of  the  House  of  David, 
and  both  of  them  must  have  owned  property  in 
Bethlehem  as  well  as  in  Nazareth,  and  they  went 
up  to  Bethlehem  to  pay  the  land  tax.  She  had  her 
own  house  because  her  father,  Joachim,  left  it  to 
her,  a  palatial  house,  and  that  is  where  the  an- 
nunciation took  place. 

So  Mary  comes  to  Bethlehem  with  Joseph  be- 
cause it  is  the  enrollment  season.  Here  every- 
body is  gathered  together.  The  ensign  of  each 
tribe  is  right  where  they  are  seated,  as  the  dele- 
gates have  their  banners  at  a  political  meeting 
or  convention.  So  every  one  that  has  come  to  be 
enrolled  at  the  gathering  of  the  taxes  would  have 
their  banner,  and  the  tax  gatherer  would  be  here, 
and  he  would  call  out  in  a  loud  voice.  Here  is 
the  scribe.  Here  is  his  ink  horn.  (Here  the  lec- 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  61 

turer  produced  and  exhibited  an  ink  horn.)  This 
is  what  we  might  (fall  a  fountain  pen — I  think 
that  is  where  they  must  have  invented  the  foun- 
tain pen.  Here  is  a  little  ink  well,  and  here  are 
the  pens  that  are  in  the  hole.  You  fill  this  with 
ink.  You  may  think  that  if  you  turn  it  upside 
down  it  will  run  out.  But  no,  you  get  a  lot  of 
floss  silk,  and  put  it  in  and  fill  the  hole,  and  the 
floss  silk  absorbs  the  ink,  so  you  have  ink  ready 
for  writing  all  the  time.  The  scribe  puts  this  in 
his  girdle.  So  you  must  imagine  the  scribe ;  and 
here  is  his  pen  and  ink,  the  scribe  sitting  there, 
with  the  treasurer  on  his  left  hand.  The  tax  gath- 
erer calls  out  in  a  loud  voice : 

"In  the  name  of  God,  the  most  merciful  and 
bountiful  Giver,  I  call  upon  you  all  that  are 
within  the  hearing  of  my  voice  to  come  forward 
and  pay  your  legal  and  lawful  taxes  as  is  re- 
quired by  the  law  of  Caesar  Augustus,  Emperor 
of  Rome  and  King  of  the  whole  world,  and  also 
by  the  law  of  God  that  is  written  on  your  hearts." 

Now,  at  the  time  of  Caesar  Augustus  they 
said,  of  course,  "Caesar  Augustus."  We  use  ex- 
actly the  same  expression  to-day,  only  instead  of 
saying  "Caesar  Augustus"  we  say,  "Sultan  Ha- 
mid  the  Fifth;"  "-In  the  name  of  Sultan  Hamid, 
Sultan  of  Turkey  and  King  of  the  whole  world, 
and  also  by  the  unwritten  law  of  God,  written 
upon  your  hearts,  come  forward  and  pay  your 
legal  and  lawful  taxes,  and  have  your  names 
written  in  the  book  of  life." 

Out  of  courtesy  they  have  to  begin  with  the 


62      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

royal  families  of  this  district,  the  royal  families 
that  are  mentioned,  and  the  dukes  and  princes. 
First  of  all  we  find  here  upon  our  list  the  name 
of  those  belonging  to  the  House  of  David  —  Da- 
vid who  was  King  of  Israel  ;  David,  King  of  the 
shepherds;  David,  born  in  Bethlehem;  and  in 
this  city  of  Bethlehem  we  shall  now  proceed  to 
enumerate  those  that  are  his  descendants.  First 
of  all  we  find  upon  our  roll  marked  here,  "Plain 
of  Rephaim,"  so  many  acres  of  land,  bearing  so 
many  bushels  of  wheat,  and  so  many  fruit  trees, 
all  belonging  to  one  called  Joseph,  of  the  House 
of  David.  Joseph's  residence  is  in  Nazareth,  but 
he  is  a  descendant  of  the  House  of  David,  not  of 
e  r°yal  lme>  but  of  Nathan's  ;  not  of  King  Solo- 
•.*  mon's,  but  of  the-  Prophet  Nathan's.  He  also  is 
''belonging  to  the  guild  of  the  carpenters,  line  of 
the  House  of  David:  those  who  construct  tem- 
ples and  synagogues.  "Now,  therefore,  O  Joseph 
the  son  of  David,  of"  the  line  of  Nathan,  if  thou 
art  in  the  hearing  of  our  voice,  we  call  upon  thee 
to  come  forward  and  declare  that  thou  art  a  liv- 
ing soul,  and  pay  thy  taxes." 

Up  would  come  Joseph,  and  throwing  his 
money  down  before  the  tax  gatherer,  the  tax 
gatherer  would  say  to  the  treasurer,  "Count  it," 
and  he  would  count  it.  And  the  tax  gatherer 
would  say,  "Hast  thou  counted  it?  Is  it  all 
right?"  "Yes,  my  lord,  it  is  all  right."  Then  he 
would  turn  to  the  scribe  and  say,  "Now,  scribe, 
write  that  Joseph,  the  son  of  David,  of  the  line  of 
the  carpenter,  hath  appeared  before  us,  that  he 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  63 

is  a  living  soul,  and  that  his  name  is  worthy  to 
be  written  in  the  book  of  life.  Hast  thou  written 
it?"  "Yes,  my  lord." 

Now,  this  matter  of  the  book  of  life  may  seem 
strange  to  you.  To  us  it  is  something  of  daily 
occurrence.  I  was  at  one  of  these  census  gather- 
ings, and  a  man  was  brought  up.  He  could  not 
walk ;  he  was  sick,  and  they  had  to  carry  him  on 
a  stretcher.  The  tax  gatherer  asked  him  his 
name,  and  asked  the  scribe  to  write  his  name. 
And  he  said,  "Hast  thou  written  his  name?"  , 

And  the  scribe  answered,  "Yes,  my  lord,  for  it  is  /W**"M 
worthy  to  be  written  in  the  book  of  life."  "Hast"j^L  #ll* 
thou  written  it?"  And  the  scribe  answered,  "Yes, 
my  lord."  Then  we  saw  that  man,  by  some  su- 
perhuman effort,  raise  himself  up  on  his  elbow, 
and  he  looked  at  us  with  wondrous  eyes — I  shall 
"  never  forget  those  eyes — with  such  joy  in  them, 
and  he  said,  "Praise  and  thanks  unto  God,  my 
name  is  written  in  the  book  of  life."  And  with 
that  he  expired  right  before  us.  But  he  was 
happy  that  his  name  was  written  in  the  book  of 
life.  Had  he  died  one  minute  before,  his  name 
would  have  been  blotted  out  of  the  book  of  life. 
So  everybody  has  to  have  his  name  written  in 
the  book  of  life  to  be  worthy.  If  you  are  not 
worthy  to  have  your  name  written  in  the  book  of 
life,  it  is  blotted  out.  If  you  have  committed 
some  crime  or  something  against  the  law,  it  is 
blotted  right  out. 

So  it  is  written  that  "Joseph  hath  paid  his 
taxes  up  to  this  day  and  this  hour;  and  stands  a 


64      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

free  man  in  the  books  of  Caesar  Augustus,  free 
of  all  arrears  of  taxes.  Hast  thou  written?" 
And  the.  scribe  answers,  "Yes,  my  lord."  And 
the  tax  gatherer  says,  "Now  Joseph,  son  of  Da- 
vid of  the  line  of  Nathan,  thou  hast  paid  thy  legal 
and  lawful  taxes  and  thy  name  is  written  in  the 
book  of  life." 

"Next  upon  our  program  we  find  the  fields  of 
the  shepherds,  belonging  to  one  called  Mary, 
daughter  of  David,  of  the  shepherd  line,  a  lineal 
descendant  in  the  royal  line  of  Solomon  and  the 
shepherd  line  of  kings;  also,  on  her  mother's 
side,  of  the  House  of  Ephraim  and  Benjamin.  And 
therefore  now,  Mary  is  a  princess  of  the  House  of 
Israel  and  of  the  royal  House  of  David.  So  many 
acres  of  land  belong  to  Mary,  who  lives  in  Nazareth 
and  also  in  Jerusalem.  Mary,  if  thou  art  within 
the  hearing  of  our  voice,  we  call  upon  thee  to 
come  forward  and  pay  thy  legal  and  lawful  taxes 
and  have  thy  name  written  in  the  book  of  life." 
So  then  would  come  Mary,  and  kneeling  before 
the  tax  gatherer  would  throw  down  her  bags  of 
money,  and  the  treasurer  would  count  it,  and  the 
whole  formula  would  be  gone  through  with 
again.  And  when  the  treasurer  had  said  that  it 
was  all  right,  and  just  as  he  would  be  about  to 
write,  Mary  would  say:  "Stay  thy  hand,  O 
scribe.  My  lord,  and  all  the  people  gathered 
here  together,  let  me  here  declare  to  you  that  I, 
Mary,  princess  of  the  House  of  Israel,  and  daugh- 
ter of  the  royal  shepherd  line  of  David,  am  legally 
and  lawfully  married  to  this  man,  Joseph,  whom 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  65 

you  all  know,  of  the  House  of  David  of  the  car- 
penter line,  living  in  Nazareth,  and  that  I,  of  my 
own  free  will,  have  married  him,  and  that  I  have 
empowered  him  to  represent"  me  on  all  public 
functions  as  my  husband,  and  that  you  in  this 
new  census  of  Caesar  Augustus  inscribe  him  as 
such,  as  you  know  it  doth  not  behoove  a  woman 
who  has  a  husband  as  a  living  soul,  to  appear  in 
public  and  pay  her  taxes,  for  it  is  only  required 
of  a  virgin  or  a  widow;  and  for  this  reason  I 
have  come  to  Bethlehem  to  declare  this  unto  you, 
so  that  in  this  new  census  you  inscribe  him  as 
my  legally  chosen  and  lawful  husband.  In  the 
name  of  God  do  I  declare  this  unto  you." 

And  the  tax  gatherer  would  turn  and  say,  "Do 
you  bear  witness  what  this  woman  hath  said?" 
And  all  the  people  would  raise  up  their  right 
hands  and  say,  "We  do  bear  witness  that  she 
swore  by  Almighty  God  that  Joseph  was  her  legal 
and  lawful  husband."  Then  he  would  turn  to 
Joseph  and  say,  "Joseph,  is  this  woman  thy  legal 
and  lawful  wife?"  And  Joseph  would  raise  his 
hand  and  say,  "By  the  living  God,  by  the  rock 
of  the  temple,  Mary  is  my  lawful  wife."  Then 
the  tax  gatherer  would  turn  to  the  scribe  and 
say,  "Write,  O  scribe,  that  Mary  this  day  hath 
appeared  before  us,  that  she  is  a  living  soul,  and 
her  name  is  worthy  to  be  written  in  the  book  of 
life.  Hast  thou  written  it?"  "Yes,  my  lord." 
"Write  further,  that  Mary  has  declared  to  us  that 
she  is  legally  and  lawfully  married  to  Joseph  of 
Nazareth,  and  that  she  doth  appoint  him  as  her 
5 


66      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

legal  representative,  and  that  she  stands  free  of 
taxes  and  stands  in  the  census  of  Caesar  Augus- 
tus as  a  free  woman,  and  recorded  as  married  to 
Joseph  of  Nazareth.  Hast  thou  written  it  ?"  And 
the  scribe  answers,  "Yes,  my  lord."  "And  now, 
Princess  Mary,  may  the  Lord  preserve  thee  as  the 
apple  of  His  eye ;  in  the  palm  of  His  hand  may  He 
ever  uphold  thee,  and  the  peace  that  passeth  un- 
derstanding rest  with  thee  in  this  new  life.  Rise, 
daughter,  and  go  in  peace."  And  Mary  would 
rise  and  step  to  one  side,  and  go  in  peace. 

And  then  the  tax  gatherer  would  say:  "Are 
there  any  more  of  the  House  of  David?  Any 
more?  We  simply  have  had  two  names  recorded 
of  the  House  of  David.  If  there  are  any  more  of 
that  lineage,  let  them  now  come  forward  before 
we  go  on  to  the  other  families  of  the  district,  and 
of  the  community  and  of  the  land.  Any  more, 
any  more,  any  more  of  the  House  of  David  be- 
fore the  record  of  the  House  of  David  is  closed?" 

And  here  Mary  came  up,  and  she  said,  "Yes, 
my  lord,  one  more  of  the  House  of  David."  And 
the  tax  gatherer  asked:  "What  more  of  the 
House  of  David?  Who  may  that  be?"  "My  lit- 
tle son,  my  lord."  "Your  son,  Princess  Mary?" 
"Yes,  my  lord.  I  came  from  Nazareth  that  my 
son  might  be  born  in  the  home  of  His  ancestors, 
and  He  was  born  there,  in  the  inn,  in  the  very 
property  of  our  ancestor  David,  of  the  House  of 
Boaz,  in  the  very  inn  which  belonged  to  our  great 
ancestor  Boaz  He  was  born."  "Where  is  He?" 
"Behold,  nurse,  bring  the  child."  "Is  that  your 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  67 

child?"  "Yes,  my  lord."  "And  what  may  His 
name  be?"  "Jesus."  "Jesus?  No  wonder  I  saw 
the  glory  of  God  over  you.  He  is  the  Christ?" 
"Yes,  my  lord ;  the  Christ  that  was  to  be  born  of 
the  House  of  David.  I  have  had  a  great  honor 
and  privilege.  A  handmaid  of  the  Lord,  as  you 
all  know,  serving  in  the  temple,  and  a  singer  in 
the  temple,  the  angel  appeared  to  me  and  an- 
nounced to  me  that  the  child  was  to  be  born  and 
that  we  were  to  call  Him  Jesus,  and  that  He  was 
to  be  the  son  of  the  House  of  David  and  the  Son 
of  God.  And  so  He  has  been  born,  and  He  is  the 
Christ."  "And  is  it  possible  that  I  have  this 
great  privilege,  to  be  able  to  look  into  the  face 
of  the  Christ,  the  Christ  of  the  seed  of  David  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh?  Write,  O  scribe,  one  more 
of  the  House  of  David.  His  name  is  Jesus,  the 
Christ.  He  is  in  the  book  of  life,  of  the  House  of 
David.  Close  up  the  record  of  the  House  of  Da- 
vid, for  with  Jesus  Christ  the  House 
now  closes.  Every  blessing  be  upon  thee, 
Mary,  thou  art  blessed  above  women,  the  mother 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

"Who  hath  declared  His  generation?"  saith 
the  prophet.  No  other  name  after  Jesus!  No 
other  king  could  sit  on  the  throne  of  David.  So 
came  the  end  and  the  beginning,  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Christ,  the  end  of  the  reign  of  the 
House  of  David.  And  the  unwritten  histories  tell 
us  that  the  tax  gatherer  was  thus  moved  that  he 
had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  Christ,  and  that 
the  scribe,  with  his  hand  trembling,  had  written 


68      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

Him  down  in  the  book  of  life.    The  traditions  say 

|/\j\";    that  the  tax  gatherer  was  the  father  of  Matthew, 

who  sat  at  the  receipt  of  custom  and  afterwards 
became  an  apostle. 

And  now  we  come  back  again  to  our  wise 
men,  whom  we  left  for  a  while  last  night.  We 
were  walking  with  them  towards  Bethlehem. 
Now  with  them  we  go  to  Bethlehem  to  find  this 
child.  These  men  were  wise  men.  They  brought 
with  them  gifts  of  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh. 
Now,  gold  always  represents  to  us  kings,  frank- 
incense means  priests,  and  myrrh  means  scientific 
men.  So  these  wise  men  were  representatives  of 
kings,  priests,  and  scientists,  and  for  once  in  their 
lives  these  three  great  powers  united  together,  as 
one  mind,  to  do  honor  to  Christ.  These  wise  men 
were  great  astronomers  and  astrologers.  We 
have  these  men  to-day  still  in  the  land,  who  are 
great  students  of  the  stars.  Their  names  are  not 
down  in  your  university  lists,  they  are  not  known 
as  Professor  So-and-So,  the  great  astronomer,  of 
such  and  such  an  observatory,  but  they  are 
known  in  their  own  land  simply  as  men  studying 
the  works  of  God.  Come  with  me  to  one  of  these 
tribes  whose  wise  men  are  students  of  the  stars, 
and  you  will  see  them,  sometimes  night  after 
night,  studying  those  wonderful  stars;  and  they 
will  tell  you,  "We  study  the  words  of  God  and 
His  handwriting,  so  that  we  may  attain  eternal 
life,  for  it  is  eternal  life  to  have  the  knowledge  of 
God  which  has  been  revealed  to  us  through  Jesus 
Christ." 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  69 

Once,  in  company  with  my  brother,  we  were 
traveling  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan,  and  we 
were  the  guests  of  one  of  these  great  chieftains, 
who  was  a  great  student  of  the  stars.  It  was  one 
of  their  star-studying  weeks,  and  members  of 
every  tribe  beyond  Jordan  had  gathered  together, 
the  students,  young  men,  and  old  men.  And  they 
had  thrown  open  their  black  tents.  These  tents 
have  a  curtain  in  the  center  and  are  divided,  half 
for  the  men  and  half  for  the  women,  which  the 
curtain  separated ;  but  they  had  lifted  up  the  cur- 
tains and  the  men  had  all  gathered  together.  The 
young  men  were  on  the  left  side,  and  my  brother 
was  mingling  amongst  them,  and  the  older  men 
were  on  this  side,  a  group  of  them  talking  and 
studying  the  stars,  and  I  stood  in  the  center  of 
the  tent,  leaning  against  the  pole  and  looking  at 
those  beautiful  stars.  The  sky  was  of  that  won- 
drous blue  such  as  you  can  see  only  in  that  part 
of  the  world.  And  as  the  atmosphere  is  very 
rare,  distances  are  very  deceptive,  and  it  seemed 
to  us  as  if  we  could  touch  the  stars  with  our 
hands.  And  O,  the  millions  of  them!  O  the 
beauty  of  them,  as  we  watched  them !  And  as  we 
looked  at  those  wondrous  stars,  suddenly  a  star 
shot  across  the  sky,  and  a  young  man  said,  "Alas ! 
alas !  a  great  soul  hath  passed  away !"  The  Ori- 
entals believe  that  when  a  star  shoots  across  the 
sky,  it  is  a  sign  that  some  great  soul  has  returned 
to  its  home.  They  believe  that  God  has  the  coun- 
terpart of  every  star  in  a  human  being.  As  God 
He  is  called  the  Shepherd  of  the  Stars.  He  knows 


70      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

them  by  name,  for  He  has  made  them  with  His 
own  hands.  And  then  the  chieftain,  among  the 
old  men  that  were  standing  there,  said  to  the 
young  men,  and  especially  to  his  son  Ali:  "Do 
not  be  grieved  that  a  great  soul  has  passed  away. 
A  greater  soul  than  the  one  that  has  passed  away 
has  been  born  into  the  world,  for  God  never 
leaves  Himself  without  a  witness.  He  calls  one 
rsoul  hence,  and  sends  another  forth.  Look  at  that 
/  star,  how  it  shines !  Look  at  its  beauty !  A 
*  greater  soul  has  been  born  into  the  world  than 
the  one  that  has  left  this  world,  to  witness  that 
there  is  only  one  living  and  true  God."  And  as  I 
listened  to  this  man,  I  said  to  myself:  "So  it 
must  have  been  with  the  wise  men  of  old.  It 
was  these  wise  men  that  scanned  the  stars.  It 
had  been  prophesied  of  old,  and  all  the  seers  and 
prophets  were  looking  forward  to  that  time.  And 
now  had  come  the  time,  according  to  their  calcu- 
lations, according  to  all  scientific  data  that  men 
could  understand,  when  that  wondrous  star,  that 
star  of  Jacob  that  had  been  prophesied  so  long 
ago,  was  to  appear,  and  in  that  star  of  Jacob  was 
to  be  born  the  great  one.  So,  as  they  watched  the 
IM  -vfat\.  t-l  heavens,  suddenly  there  appeared  to  them  that 

star<  ^nc*  w^en  t^y  saw  t^ie  star>  t^iey  i°und 
out  that  they  must  go  to  Jerusalem  and  there  in- 
quire as  to  the  place  where  He  was  to  be  born 
who  was  to  be  King  of  Israel.  And  so  they  jour- 
neyed thither. 

Now,  they  have  found  Him  through  Herod, 
and  they  come  here  to  Bethlehem,  and  they  see 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  71 

that  star  again,  and  they  rejoice  with  exceeding 
great  joy.  And  they  went  in  and  opened  their 
vessels  of  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh;  they 
put  on  their  garments,  each  one  wearing  the  gar- 
ment of  his  profession  or  rank.  There  were  seven  y//w3, 
wise  men,  but  three  of  them  were  representa- 
tives of  professions. 

What  did  they  see?  They  found  the  young 
child  and  Mary  His  mother.  Nothing  is  said 
about  Joseph.  Joseph  had  nothing  to  do  with 
this  matter.  They  had  come  to  find  the  child 
Jesus  and  Mary  His  mother.  And  spj  here  they 
came.  First  of  all  came  the  representative  of 
the  king;  and  as  he  came  he  brought  a  crown  in 
his  hand,  upon  a  beautiful  tray ;  and  as  he  brought 
this  crown,  it  is  said  to  us  that  he  knelt  down  be- 
fore the  child,  and  laid  this  regal  crown  before 
Him  and  said:  "We  have  tried  to  rule  well;  we 
have  tried  to  bring  to  the  lives  of  the  people  the 
might  and  power  of  God  by  the  rule  of  the  king. 
We  have  done  all  that  we  could.  But  Thou,  O 
child,  Thou  art  He  that  is  to  be  Lord  of  lords~p  '  /•  j?J 
and  King  of  kings."  That  is  the  title  that  the  *^ 
Persians  gave  their  kings — lord  of  lords  and  king 
of  kings — for  to  the  Persian  the  king  always  was 
a  representative,  on  earth,  of  God,  and  so  they 
brought  their  crown  here,  and  they  laid  it  before 
Him,  denoting  that  it  was  He  that  now  was  to 
represent  God,  that  He  was  the  Lord  of  lords  and 
King  of  kings.  And  they  bowed  before  Him,  and 
they  took  their  oath  of  allegiance  to  Him.  He 
now  was  the  great  potentate. 


72      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

And  then  came  the  great  priests,  the  wise 
men,  the  seers,  the  prophets,  the  priestly  class, 
the  highest,  the  Magians;  and  they  came  here, 
'^and  brought  their  offering  of  incense  and  laid  it 
before  the  child  and  said,  "We  have  tried  to  be 
mediators  between  God  and  man;  we  have  tried 
to  show  man  that  he  belongs  to  God,  to  teach  him 
a  higher  life,  and  all  we  could  do  we  have  done. 
But  Thou  art  the  Great  High  Priest;  Thou  and 
Thou  only  art  the  Mediator  between  God  and 
man.  Until  now  we  have  simply  been  represent- 
ing Christ  to  come.  But  now  Thou  art  the  High 
Priest  forever  unto  God."  And  so  they  placed 
their  incense  before  Him. 

And  then  came  the  great  scientific  men,  they 
who  had  delved  down  to  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
who  had  looked  into  every  flower  and  leaf  and 
root  and  plant,  and  into  every  stone,  and  into 
gold  and  silver,  and  had  tried  to  find  out  the 
source  of  all  life.  They  came,  and  they  laid  the 
myrrh  before  Him,  to  signify  that  thgy  had 
looked  to  find  the  source  ~of  life  in  everything 
that  was  created ;  that  now  He  was  the  One  that 
had  created  the  whole  world,  and  to  Him  be- 
longed all  this  glory,  for  it  was  all  His. 

And  so  these  three  men  bowed  before  Him  and 
glorified  Him,  and  took  their  oath  of  allegiance 
and  worshiped  Him.  Therefore  we  see  that  when 
God  sent  His  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world, 
He  sent  the  most  precious  thing  that  lie  had.  He 
was  heralded  by  angels,  singing  in  the  sky, 
"Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  on  earth  peace, 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  73 

good  will  towards  men."  We  find  Mary  break- 
ing forth,  "My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and 
my  spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Savior."  We 
find  Simeon  declaring  Him  the  salvation  of  God, 
"for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation,"  declar- 
ing Him  the  glory  of  His  people  Israel.  We  find 
the  shepherds  praising  and  glorifying  God,  for 
they  had  found  the  Christ  of  God ;  they  had  found 
Him  wrapped  in  swaddling  clothes,  and  they 
praised  and  glorified  God,  and  soon  all  Bethlehem 
heard  and  wondered  at  the  things  that  had  been 
told  them.  And  last,  but  not  least,  we  find  the 
.wisdom  of  the  world  gathered  together  as  repre- 
sentative men,  all_bowing  and  kneeling  before 
Him  and  recognizing  Him  as  the  Lord  of  lords 
and  King  of  kings. 

And  so  the  advent  of  our  Christ  was  a  glori- 
ous thing  in  this  world :  proclaimed  by  wise  men, 
religious  men,  shepherds,  priests,  and  kings ;  and 
it  was  not  simply,  as  we  have  often  pictured  it, 
that  of  a  miserable,  poor,  unnoticed  person  com- 
ing into  the  world,  when  every  evidence  in  the 
Scripture  proves  to  us  the  contrary,  and  that 
those  that  were  lookingjfor  the  redemption  of 
Israel  beheld  in  that  child  thejjlory  of  the  people 
of  Israel.  Kings  and  princes  bowed  before  Him. 

An  angel  appears  to  Joseph  and  bids  him  take 
the  young  child  and  His  mother  and  fly  into 
Egypt,  "for  Herod  seeketh  to  destroy  the  child." 
So  Joseph  and  Mary  take  the  child  and  flee  into 
Egypt.  Egypt  has  from  time  immemorial  been 
a  refuge  for  us  in  Palestine.  Whenever  we  are  in 


74      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

trouble  or  disfavor  with  the  government,  or  wish 
to  escape  military  duty,  we  fly  to  Egypt,  and  the 
Governor  can  not  reach  us  there ;  then,  when  the 
danger  has  passed,  we  come  back  again.  So  with 
Joseph  and  Mary;  when  the  danger  was  passed 
they  returned  to  their  home.  Where  did  they  go 
in  Egypt?  To  Heliopolis,  which  was  the  ances- 
tral home  of  the  Joseph  who  was  married  to  Ase- 
nath.  And  literally  speaking,  as  Mary  was  a  de- 
scendant also  of  the  house  of  Ephraim,  she  went 
among  her  own  kith  and  kin.  So  it  was  written, 
"Out  of  Egypt  I  have  called  my  son."  And  there 
the  child  was  protected. 

After  the  danger  was  over  they  came  back 
again  to  Nazareth,  and  here  we  read  that  the 
child  grew,  and  waxed  strong  in  spirit,  filled  with 
wisdom;  and  the  grace  of  God  was  upon  Him. 
I  don't  know  how  we  get  the  idea  sometimes  that 
Jesus  was  not  a  handsome  man.  Many  of  our  artists 
have  given  us  very  fine  pictures  of  the  Christ,  but 
others  are  hideous  pictures.  They  get  the  idea  from 
the  thought  expressed  in  Isaiah,  "He  was  with- 
out form  or  comeliness."  Now,  when  we  want 
to  say  about  any  person  that  he  is  not  a  Corbett 
or  a  Sullivan,  we  say,  "He  is  without  form  or 
comeliness."  That  is  what  we  would  say  of  these 
pictures  in  the  newspapers,  great  big  arms,  like 
ropes  for  muscles — that  is  the  idea  of  the  world 
to-day.  People  say,  "That  is  a  manly  man; 
look  at  his  muscles."  Everybody  is  exercising 
with  dumbbells  to  have  muscles  like  ropes,  be- 
cause the  idea  of  the  world  is  just  that  a  man 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  75 

must  be  all  bunched  out.  "God  never  delighted 
in  the  legs  of  a  man,"  we  read  in  the  Psalms, 
"neither  in  the  swiftness  of  a  horse."  That  is 
what  we  delight  in,  but  God  does  not;  man  de- 
lights in  those  things.  So  they  were  looking  for 
Christ  to  come  as  some  great  big  blustering 
fighter,  and  all  the  nations  would  say:  "Do  you 
see  that  fist?  We  come  as  warriors  to  sweep 
everybody  off  the  face  of  the  earth  that  stands 
in  our  way.  We  are  going  to  be  IT,  to  have  do- 
minion over  the  world,  being  the  strongest  and 
greatest  warriors  and  men  that  the  world  has 
ever  produced."  That  was  their  idea.  So  the 
prophet  said,  "He  is  without  form  or  comeliness." 

/  Christ  was  not  a  form.  You  could  not  put 'Christ 
in  a  form.  What  kind  of  a  form  would  you  put 

V  Him  in?  Whose  ideal  would  be  the  one?  Christ 
was  a  power  and  not  a  form.  He  was  without 
form  and  without  comeliness,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  the  world.  Some  people  think  that  it  is 
only  a  fighter  that  is  really  a  handsome  man; 
others  do  n't  think  that. 

But  Jesus  must  have  been  the  handsomest 
man  that  the  world  has  ever  seen.     How  could 
He  be  otherwise?    Was  He  not  the  very  embodi- 
ment  and  incarnation  of  the  law?     Did  Jesus 
ever  break  the  law?    Was  He  ever  sick?    What 
makes  us  ugly  and  decrepit?    The  breaking  of  Rm^cto  \ 
the  law.    Did  Jesus  ever  break  such  a  law?    We     —y  ^  " 
never  read  that  He  was  sick.     He  was  the  very 
embodiment  of  the  law  itself,  God  in  man,  and 
man  in  God — perfection.    He  could  not  be  other-  r> 


76      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

wise  than  the  most  beautiful  man  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  So  full  of  power,  of  health  was  He 
that  when  the  woman  touched  the  hem  of  His 
garment,  in  an  instant  she  was  healed. 

And  O,  His  voice  !  Why,  His  very  enemies 
said,  "No  man  spake  like  unto  this  man."  The 
descriptions  that  we  have  of  Christ  are  that  He 
was  tall  and  stately,  with  beautiful  gray-blue 
eyes  and  long  dark  lashes.  He  had  the  most 
wondrous,  compassionate  eyes.  His  hair  was  of 
the  type  of  the  house  of  David,  which  was  the 
auburn  type.  It  was  long  and  wavy  and  fell 
o  the  shoulders,  and  sometimes,  when  the  light 


tiftnfLjwt  It  '  westruck  on  His  head,  His  hair  would  look  just  like 
a  radiance  of  gold.     Then,  on  the  other  side  it 
/v|w~     ft    would  be  of  dark  brown,  so  some  people  would 
K  say,  "His  hair  is  dark  brown,  His  eyes  are  black," 
^*f  •     while  others  would  say,  "His  eyes  are  gray-blue 
and    His    hair   golden."      So    both    these    types 
seemed  to  blend  with  Him,  and  He  was  a  beauti- 
ful man,  the  most  beautiful  man  the  world  has 
ever  seen.    And  the  Bible  says  about  Him,  "And 
Jesus  increased  in  wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor 
with  God  and  man." 

We  see  Him  as  a  child  of  twelve  coming  up 
to  Jerusalem.  It  is  the  Feast  of  the  Passover. 
Why  does  it  mention  twelve?  Why  doesn't  it 
say  eleven  or  thirteen.  Because  twelve  was  His 
initiation  year.  Up  to  the  age  of  thirteen  the 
father  or  the  eldest  male  member  of  the  family 
is  liable  to  divine  and  human  punishment  for 
the  offenses  of  the  boy,  but  as  soon  as  the  boy 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  77 

becomes  thirteen,  the  father  or  guardian  brings 
him  up  to  the  synagogue  and  declares  that  he 
is  rrow  what  is  called  a  "Bar  Mitzvah,"  "a  child 
of  the  commandment;"  that  his  son  has  been 
instructed  in  the  why  and  wherefore  of  the 
fasts  and  feasts,  and  all  about  the  law,  and  the 
ceremony  of  confirmation  takes  place,  and  this 
child  then  becomes  a  member  of  the  united 
church,  and  he  is  looked  upon  as  being  old 
enough  to  get  married,  and  bears  his  own  sins. 
At  twelve  years  old  the  ceremony  of  initi- 
ation takes  place  and  the  child  is  initiated  into 
the  why  and  wherefore  of  the  fasts  and  feasts. 
And  so  here  Jesus  comes,  at  twelve  years  old, 
to  be  initiated  into  the  Feast  of  the  Passover. 
You  will  see  them  coming  to-day,  from  Dan  to 
Beersheba,  with  their  flags  and  banners,  to  spend 
the  Passover  in  Jerusalem.  During  the  lenten 
season,  they  begin  every  day  coming  up  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  in  Passion  Week  they  all  come  by 
tribes,  bearing  their  banners,  and  the  little  boys 
of  the  village  go  ahead  of  the  procession,  and 
the  boys  that  come  to  be  initiated  carry  their 
banner  at  the  head  of  the  procession.  So  the 
Jerusalem  procession  meets  those  who  come  from 
the  villages,  and  precedes  them  through  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,  and  they  come  to  the  places 
of  worship,  and  their  banners  are  taken  from 
them  and  placed  each  one  according  to  his  line- 
age. They  attend  the  public  service,  and  after- 
wards attend  what  they  call  the  schools  of  the 
law,  equivalent  to  what  you  call  your  Sunday 


78      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

schools.  You  have  your  Sunday  school  adjoining 
your  Churches.  Ours  would  be  outside,  in  the  court. 
There  are  arcades;  there  are  the  doctors  of  the 
law,  and  all  the  little  boys  that  can  read  gather 
together  and  hear  them  study  different  questions 
of  the  law.  And  those  are  open  all  day  long, 
every  day — not  like  your  Sunday  schools,  one  day 
once  a  week.  And  we  even  have  a  relay  of 
priests  that  are  there  at  night,  so  that  if  any- 
body wants  any  instruction  on  a  religious  point, 
they  simply  come  here  where  the  doctors  of  the 
law  are  sitting,  and  they  can  get  all  the  infor- 
mation they  want. 

The  little  boys  that  can  read  are  allowed  to 
come  in  with  the  doctors  of  the  law,  and  are  at 
perfect  liberty  to  ask  any  question  of  the  doctors, 
and  the  doctors  ask  them  questions,  so  that  the 
child  shall  have  a  reason  for  his  faith.  And  they 
never  think  of  silencing  these  young  aspirants, 
but  question  them  very  closely.  You  will  see 
the  doctors  of  the  law  sitting  in  these  different 
places  of  worship.  For  instance,  in  the  Mosque 
of  Omar  the  doctors  of  the  law  will  be  gath- 
ered together  at  the  Feast  of  the  Nebi  Moosa, 
and  at  Easter  time.  These  feasts  are  men- 
tioned by  their  names,  but  the  Passover  and 
Easter  and  the  feast  of  Moses  all  fall  together  at 
Easter  time.  The  three  different  religions  have 
all  been  cradled  out  of  the  Bible,  the  Jewish, 
Christian,  and  Mohammedan  religions,  so  they 
all  have  these  same  feasts,  and  the  doctors  and 
priests  from  the  different  villages  meet  at  these 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  79 

three  feasts,  and  the  doctors  of  each  respective 
religion  of  Jerusalem  give  special  lectures  at 
that  time,  each  in  their  place  of  worship.  And 
after  the  public  services,  the  doctors  from  the 
different  villages  come  and  listen  to  the  lectures 
delivered  by  the  different  priests  of  Jerusalem. 
It  is  a  sort  of  parliament  of  religions. 

Of  the  boys,  the  principal  ones  will  begin 
and  read  the  opening  part  of  the  Scripture.  And 
as  they  read  they  will  sway  their  bodies  back 
and  forth  in  the  Oriental  way.  They  never 
sit  still,  they  rock  back  and  forth.  They  believe 
that  in  this  way  they  can  better  become  oblivious 
to  their  surroundings,  and  that  in  this  way  they 
can  rock  everything  into  their  memories.  It  is 
perfectly  wonderful  what  memories  they  have. 
If  you  come  and  talk  to  them,  they  do  n't  even 
hear  what  you  say.  They  become  so  absorbed 
in  their  readings  and  recitations  that  they  do  n't 
care,  no  matter  who  is  there,  they  go  right  on 
in  the  same  way,  and  they  sway  their  bodies 
backwards  and  forwards  and  scream,  "Bismillah," 
"In  the  name  of  God,  the  most  merciful  and 
bountiful  giver,  holy  and  blessed  is  His  holy 
name."  Then  they  all  sway  their  bodies  back- 
wards and  repeat  the  same  thing.  This  is  pre- 
liminary to  these  different  discussions  they  are 
going  to  have. 

Now,  as  they  are  here  seated,  and  these  dif- 
ferent children  are  asking  questions,  and  the 
principal  doctor  of  the  law  is  replying  to  them, 
they  see  the  child  standing  at  the  entrance.  He 


80      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

has  a  little  copy  of  the  Scriptures  in  his  hand, 
and  the  priest  says,  "Behold,  a  child  stands  for 
admission  into  our  school.  Shall  we  receive 
him?"  And  they  say,  "Yes,  receive  him,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord."  He  rises  and  comes  up  to 
the  child  and  bows,  and  the  child  bows  before 
him.  He  says,  "Child,  hast  thou  come  to  be 
admitted  into  the  school  here?"  And  the  child 
says,  "Yes,  my  lord."  "You  will  be  initiated 
here?"  "Yes,  my  lord."  "The  peace  of  God 
therefore  rest  over  you.  Enter,  child." 

The  child  is  brought  in.  All  rise  to  receive 
the  child — boys,  priests,  and  all — and  the  prin- 
cipal priest  takes  the  child  and  sets  him  in  the 
midst  of  them,  because  he  is  the  child  that  has 
come  to  be  initiated.  (Here  the  lecturer  illus- 
trated this  reception,  assisted  by  a  child  who 
accompanied  her  upon  the  platform.) 

Now,  being  a  stranger  and  from  Nazareth, 
their  principal  preacher  takes  him  under  his  own 
wing,  and  so  he  will  spread  his  cloak  over  him, 
like  that  which  is  called  sitting  at  his  feet,  or  his 
particular  student,  like  Paul  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel, 
(indicating)  ;  he  is  especially  to  be  protected  now 
and  to  be  taken  care  of  by  the  principal  priest. 
And  the  child  having  long  hair,  as  he  has,  shows 
that  he  is  a  Nazarite.  And  his  being  dressed  in 
white  shows  that  he  has  come  up  to  be  initiated. 
Jesus  must  have  worn  His  hair  long,  because  He 
was  a  Nazarite.  That  is  their  vow,  that  no  scissors 
must  touch  their  hair.  The  priest  would  say  to 
him:  "So  you  have  come  to  be  initiated?  Now, 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  81 

child,  what  do  you  understand  about  initiation?" 
And  the  child  would  answer,  "I  understand  by  initi- 
ation my  relationship  with  God."  "Your  relation- 
ship with  God!  Ho,  ho,  ho,  ho!  Listen,  doctors; 
listen,  children,  what  he  says,  his  relationship  with 
God !  You  related  to  God  ?  Who  told  you  that  you 
are  related  to  God  ?"  "The  Scriptures  have  said  so." 
"The  Scriptures?  Let  us  see  where  the  Scrip- 
tures say  you  are  related  to  God."  (Here  the 
lecturer  produced  a  roll  of  manuscript.)  Now, 
this  is  the  manuscript  or  copy  of  the  law  that  the 
child  has,  and  I  will  just  open  it  in  order  to 
show  you.  You  little  boys  and  girls,  if  you 
went  to  Sunday  school,  instead  of  carrying  your 
books,  you  would  have  a  copy  of  the  law  rolled 
on  a  stick.  This  is  the  stick,  and  the  handle 
is  all  inlaid  with  silver.  (Indicating)  This  is 
a  copy,  written  on  parchment.  This  roll  would 
be  called  also  a  flying  roll.  When  the  priest 
especially  wishes  to  bless  the  people,  the  word  is 
written  on  the  skin  or  flesh  of  an  animal.  They 
have  n't  yet  understood  that  the  Christ  came  in 
the  flesh,  and  that  was  why  they  regarded  His 
words  as  being  so  holy.  They  would  n't  regard 
anything  written  on  paper  as  being  holy,  but  only 
if  it  is  written  on  what  was  once  flesh.  Parch- 
ment was  the  skin  of  a  holy  and  consecrated 
animal,  so  it  was  the  holy  word  of  God ;  and  that 
is  why  you  can't  get  a  Jew  to  show  any  disre- 
spect to  a  copy  of  the  law.  If  there  is  one 
letter  that  is  not  correctly  written,  they  will  take 
and  bury  it,  because  the  skin  is  holy,  it  once  was 
6 


82      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

alive.  And  so  it  is  the  word  of  God  written 
upon  what  was  once  flesh,  and  they  don't  un- 
derstand that  the  word  of  God  became  flesh. 
And  so  he  would  take  that  and  say:  "The  word 
of  God  that  once  was  flesh,  that  is  holy;  be  at 
peace  with  you.  His  flesh  can  only  be  peace, 
peace,  peace."  So  that  is  called  the  blessing  with 
the  flying  roll. 

Now,  he  says:  "Child,  thou  hast  said  that 
it  is  written  that  thou  art  related  to  God.  Now, 
we  have  our  Scriptures,  both  yours  and  these 
others,  and  we  will  see  where  you  can  find  it 
that  you  are  related  to  God.  How  do  you  know 
that  there  is  a  God,  in  the  first  instance."  "It 
is  written."  "How  do  you  know  it  is  written?" 
"It  is  written  in  the  book  that  there  is  a  God." 
"Well,  read,  and  let  us  see."  "In  the  beginning 
God  created."  "Well,  how  do  you  know?  Sup- 
pose we  say  to  you  there  is  no  God,  there  is  no 
God,  and  that  this  is  a  forgery,  it  is  not  true; 
what  will  you  say?"  And  the  child  will  say, 
"Why,  no  one  will  forge  anything  that  there 
isn't  an  original  of;  but  should  even  this  be  a 
forgery,  God  hath  written  Himself  upon  the  heart 
of  every  man,  and  that  can  not  be  forged." 

And  so  they  were  amazed  at  Jesus'  learning. 
They  patted  His  shoulder.  "Surely  you  have  got 
understanding,  child,  understanding  of  the  word 
of  God.  Yes,  it  is  written  in  the  Scriptures  that 
were  inspired  by  God  that  man  is  related  to  God." 

Now,  therefore,  has  come  the  time  when  the 
priest  has  to  give  to  the  children  assembled  to- 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  83 

gether  the  history  of  the  evolution  of  man.  You 
must  n't  think  that  it  is  only  in  this  country 
that  they  talk  about  the  evolution  of  man.  They 
do  that  also  away  over  on  the  other  side  of 
Jordan,  and  they  say:  "Now,  many  infidels 
have  come  to  our  land,  and  have  brought  their 
books,  and  translated  them  into  our  holy  lan- 
guage, so  that  our  youth  can  forsake  their  God; 
and  the  infidel  says  in  his  books,  that  he  calls 
science,  that  man  has  come  out  of  an  animal, 
that  he  is  evolved  out  of  a  monkey;  that  the 
animal  has  been  growing  until  it  became  a  mon- 
key, and  out  of  that  ugly  monkey  came  man." 
That  is  what  the  world  says,  and  therefore  they 
trace  no  relationship  to  God. 

Now,  the  Scriptures  tell  us,  and  our  wise 
men,  and  it  has  been  handed  down  from  time 
even  before  the  Scriptures  were  written,  that  God 
hath  created  everything  after  its  kind,  and  this 
world  is  God's  garden ;  it  was  His  specialty,  a 
kind  of  model  farm.  He  created  everything  after 
its  kind  and  said,  "Let  it  be,  let Jt^be,  letjt  be." 
And  all  this  came  into  existence  as  God  had 
thought  it  in  His  mind.  He  had  built  it  in  His 
mind,  and  then  He  manifested  it  all  in  these  dif- 
ferent creations,  and  nothing  evolved  one  out 
of  the  other.  He  did  not  say,  "Out  of  a  fish 
shall  come  a  bird,  and  out  of  a  grasshopper  a 
fish,"  and  all  that  sort  of  thing,  but  each  one 
according  to  his  kind.  There  is  a  similarity, 
but  that  is  as  in  all  things,  basically;  there  is  a 
similarity,  but  every  kind  is  of  its  own  kind. 


84      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

Then  God  said,  "Let  us  make  man  in  our  own 
image."  He  did  n't  say  in  the  image  of  a  monkey 
or  any  of  these  animals.  He  did  n't  say,  "Let 
us  gather  all  these  animals  together  and  we  will 
make  man  out  of  them,"  because  man's  making 
had  nothing  to  do  with  that  of  the  beasts,  for 
God  did  not  gather  all  the  beasts  together  and 
say,  "I  will  make  a  man  of  them."  But  He  took 
of  the  dust,  that  precious,  wondrous  dust  that 
He  only  has  made  and  that  only  He  knows  the 
secret  of — not  this  mud  that  we  see,  for  we  know 
it  was  the  divine  dust  that  He  took,  because  He 
was  going  to  make  a  divine  man,  a  man  after 
His  own  image;  and  so  He  took  of  this  dust  and 
He  created  man;  He  fashioned  him,  made  him. 
Then,  when  He  had  made  him  He  did  n't  say, 
"Let  it  be,"  but  what  did  He  do?  He  took  and 
breathed — into  his  mouth  did  He  breathe?  No, 
for  your  mouth  is  given  for  speech  and  for  food, 
but  He  breathed  into  his  nostrils,  and  that  won- 
derful breath  went  through  him,  and  man  be- 
came a  living  soul — a  living  soul ! 

Now  then,  man  is  made  in  the  image  of  God, 
a  living  soul  by  God's  own  creation.  And  then 
man  wants  to  know  where  he  came  from,  and  so 
he  wants  to  see  if  he  belongs  to  any  of  the  ani- 
mals. He  wants  to  find  out  where  he  can  find 
his  mate  in  the  animals  and  see  if  he  evolved,  as 
these  infidels  say  that  he  came  out  of  tjiem.  And 
so  man  had  all  the  animals,  and  he  named  them, 
and  God  saw  that  Adam  named  every  animal 
according  to  its  name,  and  as  Adam  looked  into 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  85 

this  evolutionary  business  to  see  if  he  was  there, 
he  could  n't  find  himself.  He  found  that  he  was 
not  from  the  animal,  but  he  was  from  God.  And 
when  God  saw  that  Adam  understood  that  he 
had  n't  evolved  out  of  a  monkey  or  an  animal, 
then  God  put  him  to  sleep,  and  He  took  of  that 
very  breath  that  He  breathed  into  his  nostrils, 
for  there  are  two  nostrils  and  there  were  two 
breaths  of  God  in  man — then  God  took  that  other 
life  and  He  builded  a  woman,  and  therefore  man 
and  woman,  in  the  image  of  God  created  He  them. 
They  are  holy ;  and  therefore  you  are  a  descend- 
ant of  that  man  and  woman,  created  by  God, 
and  you  are  not  related  to  the  monkey.  And 
so  when  you  go  forth  to  the  world  to  preach 
the  gospel  of  your  religion,  preach  to  them  that 
you  are  a  child  of  God  and  not  the  child  of  an 
animal.  Praise  and  glory  to  His  holy  name,  you 
are  related  to  Him  and  you  come  to  God's  temple 
to  be  joined  to  God,  to  show  that  you  are  God's 
child,  and  to  declare  to  the  world  that  you  are 
related  to  God. 

So  here  the  child  was  amongst  the  doctors, 
and  we  see  what  wisdom  Jesus  had.  Some 
people  go  to  the  extent  of  saying  that  Jesus  was 
an  ignorant  mechanic,  a  Galilean  peasant,  and 
all  that  sort  of  thing;  but  when  He  was  a  child 
of  twelve  He  astonished  all  the  doctors  of  the 
law  in  the  temple.  And  do  you  suppose  the 
doctors  of  the  law  were  not  wise  men?  Here 
He  was,  asking  questions,  fulfilling  the  prophecy, 
"And  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest  upon  Him, 


86      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  Spirit 
of  counsel  anofcmight,  the  Spirit  of  knowledge,  and 
of  the  fear  of  the  Lord ;"  and  His  mother  and 
Joseph  looked  for  the  child  and  could  not  find 
Him,  but  thought  that  He  had  gone  on  with  their 
kinsmen.  So  they  come  back  to  Jerusalem  to 
look  for  their  child.  Suddenly  Mary  remembers 
that  He  must  be  in  the  temple,  and  she  comes 
and  finds  Him  sitting  among  the  doctors  of  the 
law.  And  so  Mary  comes  to  speak  to  Him.  Why 
does  n't  Joseph  come  ?  Joseph  was  not,  a  son 
of  the  temple.  Mary  had  been  brought  up  among 
them.  No  other  woman  could  have  gone,  no 
more  than  a  woman  could  go  into  the  classrooms 
of  Yale  or  Harvard  unless  she  was  a  student 
amongst  them;  then  she  could  come  in.  But 
Mary  could  go  in.  Joseph  could  not  go  and  talk 
to  the  child,  because  he  did  n't  belong  to  the 
doctors  of  the  law;  but  Mary  did,  and  so  he 
accompanies  her.  Joseph  was  her  protector,  and 
he  accompanied  her.  She  comes  up  and  touches 
the  child  on  the  shoulder  and  says  to  Him : 
"Child,  why  have  You  dealt  with  us  in  this 
fashion?  Behold,  Your  father  and  I  have  been 
looking  for  You  everywhere."  And  the  child 
looked  at  her  sweetly  and  said  to  her,  "Wist  ye 
not,  mother,  that  I  must  be  about  My  Father's 
business?"  Who  had  told  Him  Joseph  was  not 
His  father?  Mary  had  especially  kept  this  as  a 
secret  from  Him,  for  it  was  her  business  to  attend 
only  to  His  human  development  and  not  tell  Him 
that  He  was  a  child  of  God  until  that  would  be  re- 


The  Childhood  of  Jesus  87 

vealed  to  Him  by  God  Himself.  And  so  she  was 
amazed  that  He  knew  about  it,  for  she  knew  that 
neither  she  nor  Joseph  had  told  Him.  And  so  He 
said,  "Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  My 
Father's  business?"  And  the  legends  tell  us  that 
when  the  priests  heard  Him,  they  said:  "What! 
Thou  art  a  blasphemer.  Dost  Thou  say  Thou  art 
the  Son  of  God?  We  shall  kill  Thee  here  on  the 
spot.  How  dost  Thou  dare  desecrate  the  temple 
of  God  and  say  that  Thou  art  about  Thy  Father's 
business?"  And  Mary  said:  "Stay  thy  hand. 
You  can  not  touch  a  hair  of  His  head.  He  is 
my  child  and  I  am  responsible  for  every  word 
that  He  says."  As  I  have  already  said,  accord- 
ing to  our  law,  until  the  age  of  thirteen  the 
parents  are  responsible  for  every  act  and  every 
word  of  their  children.  And  now,  therefore, 
Mary  said:  "The  child  is  only  twelve  years  old, 
and  I,  Mary,  of  the  House  of  David,  am  responsi- 
ble for  Him,  for  He  is  my  son  and  under  my  pro- 
tection. Come,  child;  come,  child;  come,  come, 
come  with  us,  child;  the  time  has  not  yet  come, 
child,  when  Thou  canst  proclaim  Thy  Father's 
business;  but  it  will  come.  Remember,  child, 
truly  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God.  But  now,  child, 
Thou  art  still  under  the  law.  Thou  hast  put  on 
the  flesh  in  order  to  come  and  teach  the  law  in 
Thy  Father's  house,  for  that  is  Thy  business. 
But  as  You  have  been  born  into  the  flesh,  the  son 
of  man,  You  must  still  for  some  time  obey  the  law 
and  be  under  it,  until  the  fullness  of  time  shall 
come,  and  then  You  can  come  here  in  the  temple 


88      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

and  preach  Your  Father's  business.  But  now, 
child,  return  again  with  us  to  Nazareth;  return 
and  wait  there  under  the  law  until  the  fullness 
of  time." 

And  so  you  read  that  the  child  returned  with 
them,  and  He  was  subject  unto  them.  And  so 
you  see,  children,  how  you  have  to  be  subject  to 
your  parents.  Even  Christ  became  so  obedient, 
though  He  knew  right  there  in  the  temple  that 
He  was  the  Son  of  God,  still  God  had  given  Him 
a  father  and  a  mother,  and  He  was  subject  unto 
them,  because  He  was  under  the  law.  And  so  He 
returned  with  them  to  Nazareth  and  abode  with 
them. 


III. 


The  Manhood  and  Ministry 
of  Jesus. 


THE  MANHOOD  AND  MINISTRY 
OF  JESUS. 

Last  night  we  studied  the  childhood  of  our  Lord 
together,  and  we  saw  Him  as  a  child  returning  back 
again  to  Nazareth  with  His  mother.  We  saw  Him 
in  the  temple  amongst  the  doctors  of  the  law ;  we 
saw  that  the  doctors  of  the  law  were  amazed  and 
astonished  at  His  wonderful  learning,  and  we  see 
Him  going  back  again  to  Nazareth;  and  here  we 
read  that  "He  grew  and  waxed  strong,  and  was 
filled  with  wisdom,  and  grew  in  stature  and  in  favor 
with  God  and  man."  In  this  home  of  Nazareth 
Christ  attained  superior  excellence,  which  remained 
in  its  purity  all  through  His  earthly  career. 

The  carpenter's  shop — we  hear  people  say,  "O, 
He  was  a  poor  mechanic,  He  was  a  carpenter."  God 
said  about  Him,  "This  is  My  beloved  Son."  We 
don't  hear  it  said  that  God  said,  "This  is  the  son 
of  the  carpenter,"  but,  "My  beloved  Son,"  the  car- 
penter having  achieved  to  such  a  height. 

Let  us  study  this  matter  of  the  carpenter.  The 
position  of  carpenter  in  Palestine  is  one  of  great 
honor.  It  is  an  honorable  position.  No  other 
tradesman  could  attain  to  the  position  of  a  high 
priest  except  a  carpenter.  We  have  a  proverb  that 
says,  "He  who  does  n't  teach  his  son  a  trade  teaches 

91 


92      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

him  to  steal."  And  so  carpentering  is  one  of  what 
r\  *  .  we  call  the  high  trades.  It  was  Joseph  who  was 
v&aHUiAjl/i,,.  the  carpenter.  The  question  was,  "Is  this  the  car- 
\  v  -T/  Pinter's  son  ?"  Once  they  asked,  "Is  that  the  car- 

Yvuflt  Wi^f.penter?"  or  rather,  "the  carpenter's  son."  Now  you 
will  find  that  Joseph  was,  as  I  explained  to  you 
yesterday,  of  the  line  of  the  carpenters  of  the  line 
of  the  House  of  David,  and  you  will  find  to-day 
that  the  king  of  England  is  a  carpenter  by  trade. 
All  kings  have  to  learn  a  trade.  Emperor  William 
is  a  carpenter  by  trade;  the  crown  prince  of  Ger- 
many has  only  now  completed  his  tuition  in  the 
trade  of  carpenter.  The  word  "pontiff"  means  a 
builder,  a  carpenter.  "Pont"  means  bridge,  "pon- 
tiff" a  builder.  The  Pope  would  be  called  a  car- 
penter. So  that  was  always  an  honorable  thing  to 
be  a  carpenter.  I  do  n't  know  why  we  get  the  idea 
that  Joseph  was  poor  because  he  was  a  carpenter. 
We  have  n't  got  such  very  poor  carpenters.  It 
does  n't  say  he  was  a  worker  of  wood.  Among 
people  that  are  workers  of  wood  we  find  a  good 
deal  of  poverty,  but  a  carpenter,  a  Nadjar,  that  is 
in  our  language  a  master  carpenter  and  builder.  I 
do  n't  know  that  your  carpenters  here  are  poor.  I 
have  traveled  almost  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
United  States,  and  yet  I  have  never  come  across 
what  you  call  a  poor  carpenter.  Joseph,  therefore, 
was  the  carpenter  of  the  temple,  and  a  ^synagogue 
builder,  as  he  was  also  the  /agricultural  -carpenter 
of  Nazareth.  \t/vtA*XM<k^ 

An    agricultural    carpenter    must    be    a    great 
genius.     He  has  to  invent  and  make  agricultural 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     93 

implements  for  every  kind  of  farm.  It  is  not  like 
what  you  do  here.  You  turn  out  your  agricultural 
implements  by  the  thousands  or  tens  of  thousands, 
and  you  can  use  them  in  every  State  and  in  every 
land.  It  is  not  so  with  us.  Every  couple  of  acres  of 
land  are  entirely  different.  And  so  this  agricultural 
carpenter  had  to  be  a  very  clever  man,  because  he 
had  to  make  his  implements  to  suit  the  land.  Here 
the  first  acre  is  beautiful  soil ;  the  second  is  all  cov- 
ered with  cobblestones;  and  the  third  is  all  rock, 
probably  covered  with  a  layer  of  six  inches  of  soil 
upon  it,  and  he  has  to  make  ploughs  and  instru- 
ments to  suit  that  particular  soil. 

You  will  see  our  carpenter  sitting  any  after- 
noon on  the  doorstep  of  his  shop.  Why,  a  car- 
penter is  also  a  judge  in  our  land.  Anybody  having 
a  quarrel  with  another  goes  at  once  with  him  to  the 
carpenter  to  settle  it,  and  says :  "You  are  the  one 
that  invents  implements,  you  are  the  one  that  mends 
them,  you  are  a  genius  in  our  village.  We  have  had 
a  quarrel.  This  man  has  abused  me."  Come  now, 
let  us  go  to  the  carpenter.  What  do  you  want  to 
go  to  the  law  for,  and  have  a  lot  of  bother  with 
the  lawyers  and  all  that  sort  of  thing?  And  he 
comes  and  adjusts  their  quarrels.  He  says,  "Let 
us  reason  together;" — and  so  he  is  a  great  man; 
he  becomes  a  sort  of  judge  among  them ;  he  is  be- 
loved by  the  whole  place. 

Who  does  not  know  Joseph  the  carpenter  as  he 
sits  here?  He  has  a  number  of  workmen,  and  he 
sits  here  watching  for  the  farmers.  About  four 
o'clock  you  will  see  the  farmers  coming  along. 


94      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

Here  is  a  man  with  a  plough  on  his  shoulder,  and 
he  calls  out,  "Father  Joseph,  father  Joseph,  look 
at  this  plough  you  made  for  me ;  it  broke,  and  what 
am  I  to  do  with  it,  how  am  I  to  plough  the  field?" 
Father  Joseph  gets  up  and  says:  "What  is  the 
matter,  what  have  you  been  doing  with  that 
plough?  Why  haven't  you  had  your  mind  upon 
what  you  were  doing,  and  not  your  head  wandering 
about  ?  Do  n't  you  know  the  land  is  covered  with 
these  cobbles,  and  when  you  came  to  where  the 
cobbles  were,  why  did  n't  you  lift  your  plough  ? 
You  went  bang  into  the  rock,  and  broke  your 
plough ;"  and  he  says,  "Are  n't  you  ashamed  ?"  He 
says,  "Come  here  now  and  sit  down,  and  I  will 
give  you  another  plough."  He  goes  out  with  him 
the  next  day  and  shows  him  how  to  plough.  There- 
fore he  becomes  a  master  and  a  teacher  to  these 
ploughmen. 

Then  you  will  see  him  sitting  there  again. 
Another  man  comes  along  with  a  yoke,  and  says, 
"Father  Joseph,  look  at  your  yoke ;  it  is  all  broken ;" 
and  he  looks  at  it  and  says:  "Why,  why,  son,  why 
did  you  put  those  grievous  burdens  on  your  oxen? 
When  you  were  ploughing,  first  you  did  n't  adjust 
your  yoke  properly,  and  then  when  you  had  a  sharp 
corner,  and  you  should  have  taken  a  good  sweep 
around,  you  took  a  sharp  turn  and  broke  your  yoke, 
and  almost  broke  the  neck  of  your  oxen.  Are  n't 
you  ashamed  of  yourself,  to  put  grievous  burdens 
like  this  upon  your  animals?  Now  come  with  me 
and  I  will  show  you  how  to  adjust  your  yoke." 
And  he  goes  with  him  and  shows  him  how  to  adjust 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     95 

his  yoke,  and  how  to  take  the  sweep  around  so  as 
not  to  break  the  yoke  and  break  the  necks  of  his 
oxen. 

A  carpenter  does  not  take  money  for  his  work, 
but  takes  exchange.  The  farmers  bring  him  wheat 
and  barley  and  different  kinds  of  cereals  and 
chickens,  and  butter  and  cheese  and  eggs.  All 
these  are  brought  to  Joseph  the  carpenter  to  pay  for 
the  work  that  is  being  done  by  him.  So  the  car- 
penter's house  is  full  and  overflowing  with  all  sorts 
of  things.  You  will  find  the  great  grain  bins  loaded 
with  wheat  and  barley  and  things  he  has  taken  in 
exchange.  He  is  a  good  man,  a  kind-hearted  man, 
and  the  people  know  it.  There  has  been  a  drought 
in  the  land,  and  the  poor  people  have  had  to  mort- 
gage all  the  jewels  of  the  women  for  food.  They 
have  no  collateral  now  to  give.  There  has  been  a 
drought,  and  the  first  rains  are  falling.  They 
have  n't  any  wheat,  have  n't  any  money  to  buy 
bread  to  eat;  they  don't  know  what  to  do.  They 
can't  pay  any  more  high  usury,  and  they  say  one 
to  another,  "Come,  let  us  go  to  Joseph  the  car- 
penter, he  will  help  us  out."  And  they  come  to 
him  and  say :  "Abou  Yusef,  Father  Joseph,  we  have 
no  collateral  to  give  you;  won't  you  trust  us  with 
a  few  bushels  of  wheat  and  barley,  so  that  we  can 
go  and  plough,  now  that  the  rains  are  beginning  to 
fall  ?  And  when  God  gives  us  His  blessings  we  will 
give  you  back  ten,  twenty,  or  thirty  fold."  He  says, 
"All  right,  go  to  the  barn  and  take  it."  He  does  n't 
even  go  to  see  that  they  do  n't  take  too  much.  He 
says,  "Go  to  the  barn  and  fill  your  sacks."  I  have 


96      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

gone  with  them  and  seen  them  at  the  grain  bins, 
and  have  seen  them  fill  their  measures  until  they 
got  a  lot  of  wheat  and  barley.  And  then  you  will 
see  them  coming  out  to  the  field  following  the 
ploughmen,  and  sowing  the  grain  and  praying  to 
God,  saying :  "God  bless  Joseph,  God  give  him  every 
blessing  and  riches.  He  has  helped  us  in  our  need ; 
and  God  bless  this  grain  that  we  are  sowing,  so  that 
we  may  return  it  to  Joseph  the  noble  one,  Joseph  the 
carpenter."  And  they  go  with  tears  in  their  eyes 
and  weep  and  say:  "O  God,  have  mercy  upon  us, 
have  mercy  upon  us,  for  we  have  n't  got  any  bread 
to  eat,  but  let  this  come  back  to  us  a  hundred  fold. 
Father  Joseph,  the  carpenter,  has  helped  us,  and 
not  the  usurer."  And  so  they  go  and  plant  the  seed, 
and  then  the  rains  fall  again,  and  the  sun  shines, 
and  their  seed  grows  into  golden  grain,  and  you 
will  see  them  going  to  the  harvest  fields  and  har- 
vesting; and  they  come  back  with  laughter  and  re- 
+^fi  joicing  and  mirth,  as  they  sing: 

"God  make  Joseph  victorious,  God-  give  him 
every  blessing,  dear  Father  Joseph,  our  Abou 
Yusef.  God  bless  him,  for  through  him  have  we 
been  able  to  eat  bread." 

And  so  this  is  the  home  of  Joseph  the  carpenter. 
This  is  the  home  where  Jesus  grew,  where  He  saw 
compassion,  justice,  love,  charity,  nobility  of  soul 
and  of  spirit.  This  is  the  home  where  He  waxed 
strong,  being  filled  with  wisdom ;  and  He  grew  in 
stature  and  in  favor  with  God  and  with  men — the 
beautiful  home  of  Joseph  the  carpenter  of  Nazareth, 
the  husband  of  His  mother  Mary. 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     97 

For  eighteen  years  we  do  not  see  Jesus.  When 
we  see  Him  again  He  is  a  man.  He  is  traversing 
the  country  from  Galilee  to  the  Jordan.  What  has 
He  been  doing  all  these  eighteen  years?  Some  tell 
us  that  He  was  a  teacher ;  He  taught  the  boys  in  the 
different  synagogues  and  the  schools.  He  was  pre- 
paring Himself  for  the  fullness  of  time,  when  at 
thirty  years  old  He  could  come  forth  officially  before 
the  world.  He  would  now  be,  so  to  speak,  of  age. 
According  to  the  law  of  the  Levites,  no  man  could 
come  forth  before  thirty  years  old,  and  so  He  was 
in  preparation.  We  have  a  legend  which  tells  us 
that  He  taught  the  dyers  how  to  dye  colors.  All 
the  dyers'  shops  in  Jerusalem  are  called  Christ's 
shops.  You  do  n't  hear  about  the  dyers'  shops,  but 
you  hear  about  the  Christ's  shops,  because  they  say 
He  taught  them  how  to  dye  colors. 

When  we  see  Him  he  is  at  the  River  Jordan. 
People  have  come  up  to  the  Jordan  from  all  parts 
of  the  country ;  Jesus  comes  up  to  John  and  asks 
him  to  baptize  Him,  and  John  refuses ;  John  says,  "I 
have  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee,"  but  Jesus  says, 
"Refuse  not  to  baptize  Me ;  suffer  it  to  be  so  now, 
for  thus  it  becometh  us  to  fulfill  all  righteousness." 

The  custom  of  baptism  was  not  introduced  by 
Christ ;  it  was  an  old,  old  custom  that  John  was  re- 
viving. It  was  an  old  custom  coming  down  from 
the  time  of  the  flood.  The  sign  of  baptism  was  a 
sign  that  the  son  of  God,  that  is  man,  had  never 
been  destroyed,  that  he  had  been  saved,  and  so  that 
was  the  royal  sign ;  it  is  called  the  royal  sign  of 
the  son  of  God.  It  comes  from  the  time  of  Noah, 

7 


98      Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

the  righteous  one.  You  will  find  an  allusion  to  that 
in  I  Peter  3 : 20 :  "When  once  the  longsuffering  of 
God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah,  while  the  ark 
was  a-preparing,  wherein  few,  that  is,  eight  souls 
were  saved  by  water.  The  like  figure  whereunto, 
even  baptism,  doth  also  now  save  us."  Then  again 
in  I  Corinthians  10 :  I :  "Moreover,  brethren,  I 
would  not  that  ye  should  be  ignorant,  how  that  all 
our  fathers  were  under  the  cloud  and  flood,  and  all 
passed  through  the  sea;  and  were  all  baptized  unto 
Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea."  So  we  have 
here  the  two  kinds  of  baptism,  the  one  from  the 
time  of  Noah,  the  other  from  the  time  of  Moses. 
The  second  is  of  a  higher  type,  the  being  baptized 
unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the  sea.  Now  they 
are  baptized  unto  Christ;  and  as  Moses  led  them 
through  the  sea,  Christ  had  to  go  down  into  the 
river  of  life  which  the  River  Jordan  typifies,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  redeem  man  and  bring  him  out 
into  everlasting  life.  And  so  He  says,  "for  the  sake 
of  righteousness." 

Many  people  ask  me  which  is  correct,  immer- 
sion or  sprinkling?  Now,  both  are  correct.  Im- 
mersion, of  course,  is  the  oldest  form ;  we  still  prac- 
tice it  in  our  country  at  the  present  day,  and  many 
places  where  they  have  no  water  they  dig  a  hole 
in  the  sand  and  immerse  the  person,  and  pour  sand 
over  the  head.  In  the  same  way  they  are  also  im- 
mersed and  water  is  poured  over  the  head.  It  is 
a  type  of  being  baptized  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  as 
Christ  was  so  baptized  it  was  to  typify  that  form. 
Of  course  immersion  is  the  oldest  form. 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     99 

I  have  been  both  sprinkled  and  immersed. 
When  I  was  a  baby  born  my  father  belonged  to 
the  Episcopal  Church,  and  they  sprinkled  me  with 
water  from  the  Jordan,  according  to  the  form  of 
the  Episcopal  Church.  Then  there  was  a  nun,  a 
friend  of  my  father's,  that  belonged  to  the  Greek 
Church,  and  she  thought  that  was  n't  baptism  at  all, 
to  put  water  on  my  head ;  so  she  had  me  immersed 
in  water  and  anointed  with  oil,  according  to  the 
Greek  fashion.  And  when  I  grew  up  to  be  eighteen 
years  old,  I  demanded  baptism  at  the  River  Jordan, 
where  I  was  immersed.  So  I  haVe  been  sprinkled 
and  immersed.  But  in  baptism  it  is  not  the  idea  that 
baptism  is  going  to  save  us,  but  it  is  the  fact  of  our 
coming  out  and  declaring  that  we  belong  to  Christ, 
and  that  we  are  going  to  enter,  as  Christ  did,  into 
the  stream  of  life  in  order  to  save  souls,  in  order 
to  save  people.  Because  when  we  are  ready  for 
baptism,  then  we  are  already  Christians,  and  the 
fact  of  our  going  into  the  water  is  not  going  to 
make  us  holier.  The  fact  is  that  we  are  not  afraid 
to  bear  testimony  to  that  which  we  believe,  and  we 
are  going  to  enter  into  the  stream  of  life  to  save 
lives  as  Jesus  did. 

Going  into  the  River  Jordan,  He  is  now  entering 
into  the  stream  of  life,  He  is  entering  upon  His  pub- 
lic ministry,  and  John  baptizes  Him.  It  is  just  as  it 
is  in  your  Churches  here — when  a  man  is  publicly 
ordained  he  is  ordained  to  the  work  of  saving  souls, 
of  entering  into  his  public  work  as  a  teacher  and  as 
a  preacher.  And  now  Jesus  is  baptized.  The  heav- 
ens are  opened  and  we  hear  a  voice  from  heaven 


100    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

saying,  "This  is  My  beloved  Son  in  whom  I  am 
well  pleased;"  and  we  see  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the 
shape  of  a  dove,  typifying  innocence  and  purity,  de- 
scending upon  Him.  Jesus  comes  out  of  that  bap- 
tism filled  with  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  He 
comes  out  now  under  a  different  law ;  He  comes  out 
from  that  water  to  do  higher  and  holier  work.  The 
work  He  had  done  previous  to  that  was  pleasing  to 
God  and  received  God's  affirmation  and  sanction; 
but  now  He  comes  out  filled  with  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  all  radiant  with  that  power. 

He  goes  forth  now  into  the  wilderness  and  fasts 
forty  days  and  forty  nights.  Why  does  it  say  forty 
nights?  Because  in  our  country  it  is  the  custom 
to  fast  forty  days;  we  have  a  month  of  fasting, 
forty  days,  which  is  called  Ramadan.  We  have  the 
people  fast  all  day  long  until  sunset,  and  at  sunset 
a  cannon  is  fired,  and  they  sit  down  and  eat  and  eat 
until  midnight,  and  at  midnight  another  cannon  is 
fired,  and  they  enter  into  another  fast.  This  is  the 
custom  in  the  Holy  Land  from  time  immemorial. 
But  Jesus  fasted  forty  days  and  nights,  and  He  is 
here  under  this  power  of  the  Spirit  in  the  wilder- 
ness, among  the  beasts  of  the  fields.  Have  you  ever 
fasted?  You  just  try  it.  This  is  a  good  time  to 
fast,  in  Lent.  I  think  nothing  of  fasting  three  or 
four  days.  But  how  must  you  fast  ?  When  we  fast 
it  must  be  an  absolute  fast.  You  must  fast  with 
your  face  all  shining,  you  mustn't  think  you  are 
doing  any  penance.  That  is  no  good.  It  is  when 
you  want  to  get  a  higher  understanding  of  the 
Spirit  and  come  in  communion  with  God. 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     101 

Jesus  fasted  forty  days  and  nights,  and  when 
His  fast  was  broken,  He  was  a-hungered,  the  human 
body  asserted  itself,  and  now  He  is  to  be  tempted  of 
the  devil.  Now,  the  devil  was  a  very  up-to-date 
person.  Many  people  have  an  idea  that  the  devil  is 
a  creature  with  horns  and  hoofs  and  all  that  sort 
of  thing,  an  ugly  person.  He  isn't  that  at  all; 
he  is  a  beautiful  being,  a  beautiful  creation,  for  he 
was  created  the  great  angel  of  light,  most  beautiful, 
and  that  beauty  was  never  taken  away  from  him. 
He  was  hurled  down  from  heaven,  but  his  beauty 
was  never  taken  from  him ;  his  beauty  remained  and 
that  is  how  he  makes  himself  like  an  "angel  of 
light."  So  he  conies  to  Christ  with  all  his  persua- 
siveness— he  can  quote  Scripture  by  the  hour.  He 
understands  all  illusions  and  delusions.  He  is  wise, 
he  knows  things;  he  is  up-to-date,  and  he  always 
comes  in  that  way,  beautiful.  When  he  wants  to 
make  somebody  specially  wicked,  he  makes  himself 
so  lovely,  he  turns  to  his  original  character  as  the 
great  angel  of  light.  So  he  comes  to  Jesus. 

Now  I  will  recite  to  you  the  way  it  is  recited  to 
us,  how  the  conversation  comes  between  Jesus  and 
the  devil.  The  devil  you  know  was  a  fallen  angel, 
and  his  punishment  was  to  tempt  man,  and  his 

_ll    I    '  •^^|^^MRM»  ^ i»»—  —   •    .  .*•  -_u-  ^^^^ 

greater   punishment   was  t2_^t€mgt.  ^*°^   as   man'*n    ^  A. 

Sometimes  one  almost  feels  a  pain  ofsorrow  for 

Satan,  how  much  he  must  suffer.     That  was  his  kw**'vx* 

punishment  because  of  his  disobedience  to  God,  be-  fcvMXv** 

cause  of  his  rebellion;  his  punishment  was  that 

should  tempt  God.     And  sometimes  amongst  our 

legends  they  tell  us  that  he  is  always  glad  when 


102    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

man  does  not  fall,  or  rather,  when  he  withstands  his 
temptations.  For  then  he  feels  in  some  way  that 
he  can  expiate  his  own  crime;  and  so  it  is  not 
always  due,  after  all,  to  the  devil  that  man  sins — 
it  is  of  his  own  wickedness.  He  is  allowed  to  sin, 
and  the  devil  encourages  sin.  When  the  devil 
stands  there  and  fulfills  his  work  of  tempting  him, 
it  is  of  man's  own  free  will  that  he  goes  and  sins. 
He  can  not  say,  "He  tempted  me,  and  I  fell  because 
he  tempted  me." 

So  the  devil  came  to  Christ  and  he  said  to  Him, 
"Jesus,  You  are  hungry;  why  should  You  suffer 
hunger  if  You  are  the  Son  of  God  ?"  Now  when  we 
use  a  term  like  that,  and  say  to  anybody,  "If  you 
are  so  and  so,"  it  means  you  are  so  and  so.  And 
so  when  the  devil  said,  "If  Thou  art  the  Son  of 
God,"  it  meant  the  same  as  if  he  said,  "Thou  art 
the  Son  of  God."  He  said,  "If  Thou  art  the  Son 
of  God,  then  take  these  stones  and  make  them  into 
bread."  He  was  appealing  to  His  human  side  there. 
Which  one  of  us  that  could  make  stones  into  bread, 
in  order  to  show  that  we  were  the  chosen  son  of 
God,  would  not  hire  the  biggest  hall  we  could  find, 
and  charge  five  dollars  apiece  to  have  people  come 
and  see  we  had  the  inspiration  of  God  upon  us? 
Think  what  a  terrible  thing  for  the  devil  to  tempt 
Christ !  There  was  Christ  in  the  form  of  man,  with 
all  the  frailties  of  man ;  and  the  devil  says,  "If  Thou 
art  God,  and  I  know  Thou  art," — he  knew  he 
could  n't  tempt  Christ  to  sin,  but  he  wanted  to 
tempt  Christ  to  give  up  His  mission  as  a  failure; 
because  if  Christ  would  turn  those  stones  into  bread 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     103 

for  His  own  gratification,  He  would  give  up  His 
mission  as  Saviour.  He  wanted  to  turn  Him  from 
that  mission;  he  says,  "Turn  those  stones  into 
bread."  So  Jesus,  whose  meat  and  drink  was  to  do 
His  Father's  will,  turns  to  the  devil  and  says,  "Man 
does  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  that 
cometh  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

"Ah,"  says  Satan  within  himself,  "I  couldn't 
get  Him  here  to  perform  a  miracle  for  Himself;  I 
know  what  I  will  do,  I  am  going  to  offer  to  make 
Him  king.  That  is  a  temptation  that  will  appeal  to 
Him  as  the  son  of  man,  the  Son  of  God  but  yet  a 
man,"  and  so  he  says  to  Him,  "Jesus,  will  You  come 
up  with  me  to  that  high  mountain?"  And  Jesus 
goes  up  into  that  high  mountain.  I  have  been  on 
that  mountain,  the  Quarantine  Mountain.  You  go 
up  and  up  and  up,  and  what  an  up-going  it  is! 
There  are  deep  precipices,  rocky  pathways  which 
make  you  dizzy  as  you  go  along;  you  have  some- 
times to  shut  your  eyes  and  feel  y^our  way  along  the 
edges  of  the  precipices.  There  are  a  great  many 
places  where  hermits  live,  Greeks  and  Russians  and 
Arabs  and  so  forth,  that  live  in  the  caves  of  that 
high  mountain.  You  still  go  up,  and  when  you  get 
to  the  top  what  a  vision  of  loveliness  greets  you! 
It  is  as  though  you  see  the  world  at  one  glance.  To 
your  right,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see,  lie  the  blue 
waters  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  with  the  ships 
sailing  across  its  bosom;  here  at  the  back  is  the 
mountain  of  Lebanon,  with  the  beautiful  pine  and 
fir  trees,  and  the  snow-capped  peaks.  From  the 
foot  of  Benais  you  begin  to  see  the  Jordan  as  it 


104    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

winds  in  its  course.  We  call  it  the  emerald  neck- 
lace, and  then  it  cuts  through  the  blue-hued  waters 
of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  which  looks  like  a  band  of 
gold  in  the  center,  and  then  it  commences  twining 
and  twining  in  its  emerald  necklace  until  it  crosses 
the  plain  to  the  Dead  Sea,  and  then  it  is  swallowed 
in  the  middle  as  it  were  by  a  whirlpool ;  and  so  the 
Jordan  flows  day  in  and  day  out,  and  the  Dead  Sea 
never  grows  any  larger  or  any  smaller.  Here  at 
your  feet  you  see  the  beautiful  city  of  Jerusalem, 
with  its  walls  and  towers  and  domes  and  spires 
pointing  heavenward;  you  see  the  many  villages 
nestling  in  the  mountainside  or  down  in  the  valley. 
Palestine  is  an  epitome  of  the  whole  world.  You 
don't  need  to  go  out  of  Palestine  to  see  the  whole 
world  in  a  nutshell.  We  have  our  volcanic  regions, 
our  prairie  regions  and  seas  and  lakes  and  moun- 
tains, and  here  you  have  the  eternal  snows,  and  all 
the  trees  that  grow  in  the  cold  regions;  and  down 
here  you  have  all  the  tropical  plants,  and  peaches 
and  figs  and  raisins  and  pomegranates, — all  kinds 
of  fruit,  all  kinds  of  flowers.  Everything  grows 
with  us  in  Palestine,  so  you  have  the  whole  world 
before  you. 

Now,  the  devil,  who  had  this  power  of  being 
able  to  bring  before  Christ  in  a  moment  of  time  all 
the  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  said  to  Him,  "Look 
here,  Jesus,  all  these  will  I  give  You  if  You  will  fall 
down  and  worship  me,  or  make  an  alliance  with 
me;  all  these  will  I  give  You."  And  we  are  told 
that  the  devil  had  the  power  to  be  able  to  bring 
before  Jesus  the  whole  vision  of  all  powers  of  the 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     105 

kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  he  had  also  the  power 
to  bring  before  Jesus  His  crucifixion,  with  all  its 
humiliation,  with  the  revilings,  with  the  spitting, 
with  the  crown  of  thorns — all  were  brought  before 
Him.  And  he  says :  "Look  here,  Jesus,  You  are  the 
Son  of  God,  You  are  the  chosen  one,  that  should 
be  the  Messiah  and  sit  upon  the  throne  of  Your 
father  David.  Look  at  Your  people  down  there. 
What  is  the  use  of  trying  to  save  these  people? 
These  very  people  You  want  to  save  will  spit  at 
You,  will  pierce  You,  and  will  kill  You ;  what  do  You 
want  to  do  all  this  for,  when  You  can  get  the  whole 
world  without  it,  only  recognize  my  power  in  it? 
What  do  You  want  to  do  it  for?  Look  at  Your 
people  down  there,  slaves  trodden  under  the  foot  of 
the  Romans,  Israel  persecuted  and  enslaved;  look 
at  them.  You  can  be  a  king — I  shall  bring  all 
kingdoms  to  You,  and  they  shall  bow  down  before 
You;  I  shall  exalt  Your  name  through  the  whole 
earth.  You  can  bring  in  such  a  kingdom  of  equity 
and  justice  and  righteousness,  without  Your  going 
all  through  that,  only  recognize  me  in  it." 

Now,  the  devil  here  wanted  to  tempt  Jesus  to 
give  up  His  mission  as  Saviour.  And  one  of  the 
most  awful  things  to  contemplate  is  this,  that  Jesus 
was  liable  to  fall  when  the  devil  tempted  Him.  He 
was  just  in  the  same  position  as  Adam  was,  for  He 
came  for  that,  to  pass  through  all  temptations ;  He 
was  tempted  like  unto  man  in  everything,  buf  with- 
out sin ;  there  was  no  possibility  of  the  devil  tempt- 
ing Him  to  sin,  but  he  wanted  to  tempt  Him  to  give 
up  becoming  the  Saviour  of  men.  Because  if  He  was 


106    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

getting  all  the  kingdoms,  what  sense  was  there  in 
coming  to  be  a  Saviour?  He  had  all  the  kingdoms 
of  the  world  anyhow,  but  it  was  the  coming  to  be  a 
Saviour.  Now  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  God,  and  Jesus 
is  God  in  this  sense.  Many  people  say,  How  is  it 
that  Jesus  is  God  and  the  Son  of  God?  Well,  God 
had  a  Son  begotten  of  His  own  substance  and  kind. 
Now  if  you  beget  a  son,  your  son  is  under  the  same 
law  as  yourself;  he  is  of  the  same  flesh  and  blood, 
he  is  of  the  same  nature,  and  you  are  not  a  bit 
greater  than  your  son;  you  can't  be  greater  than 
your  son.  You  can  not  beget  a  cow  or  bird  or 
sheep,  you  can  only  beget  one  of  your  own  image 
and  kind.  So  it  was  with  God.  When  God  begat 
.,  a  son,  He  begat  a  son  after  His  own  substance,  and 

therefore  God  could  not  beget  a  man,  but  He  begets 
God.  That  is  how  Jesus  is  God.  He  is  not  God  the 
Father,  but  He  is  God  the  Son.  He  is  of  the  same 
substance  as  God,  of  the  same  nature  as  God,  only 
He  is  not  God  the  Father,  but  He  is  God  the  Son. 
Now  if  the  devil  could  have  tempted  Him  to  fall, 
just  see,  He  would  have  been  an  everlasting  God, 
cut  away  from  His  Father.  He  had  come  to  do  His 
Father's  will,  He  had  come  to  finish  the  work.  He 
had  come  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  He 
had  to  subject  Himself  in  this  form  to  be  tempted 
and  liable  to  fall. 

O  what  a  terrible  thing  it  would  have  been  for 
man  had  Jesus  established  a  kingdom  of  His  own 
on  earth,  in  compliance  with  the  temptation  of  the 
devil !  Do  n't  you  see  what  a  terrible  thing  it  would 
be?  Now  John,  who  was  the  beloved  of  Christ,  is 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     107 

the  great  apostle  that  brings  in  so  much  of  the  one- 
ness of  this  nature  of  God  and  Christ.  The  other 
apostles,  like  Matthew  and  Luke,  in  recording  the 
life  of  Christ,  record  His  statements.  Here  comes 
Matthew ;  he  describes  the  Wise  Men ;  he  brings  out 
scientific  facts.  Here  comes  Luke;  he  comes  on 
with  the  taxation  by  Caesar  Augustus;  he  tells 
about  the  Annunciation,  the  visit  of  the  angel  to 
Mary,  and  how  this  child  was  to  be  born  of  Mary. 
But  John  comes  forward;  he  gives  no  time  or  pe- 
riod, and  he  simply  says,  "In  the  beginning" — no 
time — but  "In  the  beginning  was  the  Word,  and 
the  Word  was  with  God  and  the  Word  was  God, 
and  that  Word  was  made  flesh."  In  the  beginn 
the  Word  took  flesh,  and  not  the  Father,  and  this 
Word,  "Jesus,"  was  God  the  Son,  and  dwelt  among 
men,  for  which  He  was  called  Immanuel,  "God  with 
us."  The  Word  was  made  a  separate  being  by  God 
the  Father  Almighty,  who  thus  made  the  Word  His 
only  begotten  Son.  Now  the  same  Word  took  flesh 
and  was  manifested  in  the  life  of  Jesus.  He  was 
the  only  begotten  Son  after  the  flesh,  and  as  the 
manifestation  of  the  Word  or  the  only  begotten  Son 
of  God  after  the  Spirit.  'He  was  set  apart  for  in- 
dividual existence.  Before  anything  else  than  God 
existed,  the  Word  was  separated  from  God  and  be- 
came a  separate  being,  a  procedure  from  God,  an 
individualized  existence,  yet  an  existence  in  which 
there  was  no  memory  of  its  own  beginning.  In  the 
beginning^was  the  Word — that  is,  from  all  eternity 
the  Word  existed,  and  the  time  was  when  there 
was  not  anything  but  the  Word  and  God,  as  John 


108    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

says,  "in  the  beginning."  So  in  that  remote  period, 
the  beginning,  that  is  when  God  and  Jesus  were  to- 
gether. In  the  beginning  was  the  Word. 

Now,  concerning  this  Jesus,  His  Son,  our  Lord, 
which  was  made  of  the  seed  of  David  according 
to  the  flesh,  He  did  not  put  on  the  form  of  an  angel, 
but  He  put  on  the  form  of  the  seed  of  Abraham. 
So  many  people  keep  asking,  How  can  Christ  be 
the  Son  of  man  and  the  Son  of  God  ?  God  gave 
His  only  begotten  Son  in  spirit  in  an  earthly  body 
prepared  miraculously  for  the  reception  of  the 
chosen  Son  of  man. 

Now,  Mary  could  give  the  soul  through  her 
flesh,  and  that  soul  which  is  born  through  her  flesh 
is  called  the  Son  of  man.  He  is  the  living  form, 
the  seed,  the  only  begotten  Son  of  God.  And  He 
submitted  so  perfectly  to  the  Spirit  of  God  as  to  act 
in  its  will  and  power,  and  receive  the  reward  of 
victory  over  the  world  and  over  His  own  earthly 
body,  as  to  walk  Himself  humbly  and  righteously 
and  perfectly  as  a  man  before  God.  Now,  that  is 
how  Jesus  is  called  the  Son  of  man,  and  Mary  was 
able  to  give  Him  this  body  to  receive  the  Spirit  of 
God,  to  be  the  Son  of  God;  so  it  is  the  body  of 
Jesus  that  is  called  the  Son  of  man.  His  spirit  is 
the  Son  of  God. 

And  so  here  was  the  devil  with  all  his  power, 
wanting  to  tempt  God  in  the  body  of  the  Son  of 
man — not  God  the  Father,  but  God  the  Son,  and 
this  God  the  Son  in  this  body  of  the  Son  of  man. 
He  tries  to  tempt  Him,  tries  to  make  Him  want  to 
give  up  saving  men.  O,  what  an  awful  thing  it 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     109 

would  have  been  had  Christ  accepted  all  the  world, 
the  power  of  the  kingdoms,  to  think  to  bring  man 
back  to  Him  in  that  way,  and  then  to  have  cut  Him- 
self off  from  God,  to  separate  Himself  in  a  kingdom 
of  His  own,  and  He  an  everlasting  God  also,  but 
separated  from  the  Father !  Jesus  says  to  him,  "Get 
thee  hence,  Satan,  for  it  is  written,  Thou  shalt  wor- 
ship the  Lord  thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou 
serve."  He  did  not  come  to  be  worshiped,  but 
He  came  to  bring  back  again  the  love  of  God,  and 
"Him  only  shalt  thou  serve."  But,  says  Satan  to 
himself,  "I  couldn't  get  Him  to  be  king.  He  can 
see  His  people  down  there.  I  know  what  I  will 
do ;  He  is  so  compassionate,  He  will  want  to  sacrifice 
Himself  for  these  people.  I  will  make  a  priest  of 
Him."  And  he  says  to  Jesus,  "Come  with  me  to 
the  pinnacle  of  the  temple."  So  Jesus  goes  with 
him  to  the  temple. 

Come  with  me  to  the  Mosque  of  Omar  to-day 
and  you  will  find  there  from  forty  to  fifty  thousand 
people  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder  and  raising 
their  hands,  and  you  will  hear  them  saying,  "La 
Illah  ila  Allah."  .  "There  is  only  one  living  and  true 
God.  Glory  and  praise  be  to  His  holy  name.  Allah 
il  Allah."  Here  were  thousands  of  people  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  worshiping  in  that  very  temple, 
the  temple  area,  and  Satan  says  to  Christ,  "Look  at 
these  people ;  if  You  will  cast  Yourself  down  before 
them  no  harm  can  come  to  You.  Then  the  people 
will  know  that  You  are  the  Holy  One,  for  it  is  writ- 
ten that  the  angels  will  take  care  of  You,  lest  Thou 
dash  Thy  foot  against  a  stone.  You  go  down  among 


110    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

the  people ;  I  will  give  You  power,  so  You  can  sway 
multitudes.  The  religious  emotions  of  the  people 
You  will  have  in  the  palm  of  Your  hand.  You  will 
be  able  to  sway  them,  and  be  the  high  priest  for  ever 
and  ever,  and  nothing  will  befall  You,  for  the  an- 
gels will  keep  You  upright  over  the  heads  of  these 
people,  and  the  people  will  worship  You."  O,  what 
a  temptation  that  would  be,  to  get  the  power  to  be 
able  to  sway  multitudes  and  to  have  people  come 
and  fall  down  and  worship  Him!  It  was  a  terrible 
period  for  the  Christ,  for  the  devil  to  have  to  tempt 
Him.  And  Jesus  turns  around,  as  the  Son  of  God 
now,  and  says,  "Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord  thy 
God."  And  Satan  left  Him,  whilst  the  angels  came 
and  ministered  unto  Him  as  the  Son  of  man,  tri- 
umphant God,  Saviour,  and  Redeemer. 

I  have  received  letters  from  various  people, 
from  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  and 
Young  Women's  Christian  Associations,  and  others, 
saying  to  me  they  have  tried  to  live  like  Christ,  but 
saying  they  are  surrounded  by  so  many  temptations, 
by  inheritance  of  their  fathers,  by  influence  of  rela- 
tives and  friends,  and  they  feel  that  they  can  not 
rise  to  that  height;  for  Jesus,  though  tempted  like 
unto  man,  was  without  sin,  and  therefore  He  could 
not  understand  the  position  of  man.  And  they  have 
written  to  ask  me  what  I  think  about  it,  that  they 
feel  they  would  have  to  give  the  whole  thing  up 
because  Christ  was  not  tempted  like  unto  man — He 
was  without  sin.  But  what  does  Hebrews  say  about 
it?  "For  in  that  He  Himself  hath  suffered."  It  is 
all  nonsense  to  think  Christ  did  not  suffer;  that 
is  why  He  put  on  the  body,  so  He  could  suffer — 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     111 

"For    in   that    He    Himself    hath    suffered,    being 
tempted,    He    is    able    to    succor    them    that    are 
tempted."     It  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be  tempted;  it  ; 
is  a  sin  to  fall  into  temptation. 

For  instance,  here  is  a  person  that  every  time 
you  give  him  a  glass  of  wine,  his  constitution  is  so 
that  it  makes  him  sick  at  the  stomach.  Is  there  any 
credit  that  he  does  not  become  a  drunkard  and  a 
brute?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Here  is  a  man  that  every 
time  he  sees  a  cup  his  hand  instinctively  reaches  for 
it,  and  he  wants  it,  and  all  his  ancestors  scream  in 
him  for  it.  Did  you  ever  hear  your  ancestors 
scream  in  you  and  say,  "Just  take  it,  do  what  you 
like."  O  those  ancestors,  do  n't  they  rise  like  roar- 
ing lions  to  scream  in  our  ears  ?  But  when  we  do  n't 
listen  to  that  screaming,  and  we  do  n't  take  the  cup, 
and  we  don't  become  drunkards,  that  is  character 
for  you.  It  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be  tempted,  and 
that  is  why  we  are  put  into  a  place  to  be  tempted, 
because  we  know  where  to  find  ourselves ;  we  know 
of  our  own  free  will  how  to  choose  the  good  and 
leave  the  evil.  And  you  will  find  James  says, 
"Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation,  for  , 
when  he  is  tried  he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life." 
"My  brethren,  count  it  all  joy  when  you  fall  into 
divers  temptations,  knowing  this  that  the  trying  of 
your  faith  worketh  patience."  So  it  is  a  glorious 
thing  to  be  tempted.  Angels  shall  come  and  min- 
ister unto  us,  and  we  shall  become  stronger  and 
stronger,  and  then  Christ  will  come  and  dwell  with 
us,  and  the  Father  will  sup  with  us.  "Be  ye  perfect,  •»$  / 
even  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect." 

After  this  temptation  we  see  Jesus  coming  to 


112    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

Cana  in  Galilee.  His  first  miracle  is  to  be  per- 
formed here.  There  is  a  wedding,  and  there  is  no 
wine,  and  His  mother  comes  up  to  Him  and  says, 
"Son,  there  is  no  wine."  And  He  says  to  His 
mother,  in  your  translation,  "Woman,  what  have  I 
got  to  do  with  thee?  My  hour  has  not  yet  come." 
I  remember,  when  I  first  came  to  this  country,  the 
late  Robert  Ingersoll  was  giving  a  series  of  lectures 
in  the  Academy  of  Music  in  New  York  City.  The 
Academy  was  crowded,  and  a  lady  who  was  intro- 
duced by  Ingersoll  said,  first  of  all,  she  would  ad- 
vise the  ladies  to  trample  the  Bible  under  foot,  take 
no  stock  in  the  Bible,  because,  she  said,  "Jesus,  the 
greatest  character  in  the  Bible,  insulted  His  mother 
by  calling  her  'Woman.'  "  She  said,  "We  are  free 
born  American  women,  we  do  n't  want  to  be  classed 
with  those  of  the  harem,  we  don't  want  this  Ori- 
ental religion  foisted  upon  us;  therefore  if  Jesus 
could  do  such  a  thing,  what  do  we  want  with  that 
old  Bible?"  As  I  listened  to  the  woman  I  felt  so 
sorry  for  her,  because  I  knew  she  did  n't  know  what 
she  was  talking  about.  When  our  Lord  said  to  His 
mother,  "Woman,  what  have  I  to  do  with  thee," 
He  did  not  use  that  term  as  you  use  it.  You  say,  "O, 
that  is  a  lady,  that  is  a  woman." 

I  say  every  lady  ought  to  thank  God  every- 
day of  her  life  that  she  has  had  the  crowning  glory 
of  being  born  a  woman.  O,  it  is  a  glorious  thing 
to  be  born  a  woman,  for  woman  is  the  manifestation 
of  God's  love  to  the  world — Jesus  born  of  a  woman. 
How  could  Christ  be  born  of  a  man  ?  The  Oriental 
word  for  woman  comes  from  the  word  "Haram," 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     113 

which  means  a  holy  place,  a  covered  place ;  and  the 
other  word,  "Imra,"  which  means  "princess," 
"mother,"  and  "light."  So  the  literal  translation  of 
"mother"  is,  "thou  holy  one,  thou  covered  one,  thou 
princess,  thou  mother  of  light."  When  God  formed 
man  He  said,  "It  is  not  good  for  man  to  be  alone." 
We  have  a  little  story  in  the  Talmud  which  says 
that  God  looked  with  love  and  pity  upon  the  world 
after  He  had  formed  man  in  His  loneliness,'  and  He 
said :  "I  will  make  a  mother.  I  am  the  Father,  but 
we  must  have  a  mother."  So  God  made  a  mother. 
God  was  the  Father,  and  so  woman  was  made  out 
of  the  flesh,  the  palpitating  flesh.  And  then  God 
took  flesh  out  of  Adam  and  He  builded  a  woman, 
or  a  temple,  which  means  He  expended  a  great  deal 
of  power  architecturally  in  building.  You  will  only 
find  that  word  used  in  regard  to  a  temple — builded 
a  woman,  a  temple,  so  that  in  the  fullness  of  time  He 
could  manifest  Himself  through  that  temple.  So  the 
word  "woman"  is  entirely  different  as  we  under- 
stand it  in  the  Eastern  world.  When  Jesus  said  to 
His  mother,  "Woman,  what,  have  I  got  to  do  with 
thee?  My  hour  has  not  yet  come,"  it  was  not  "Go 
mind  your  business ;"  but  He  said,  "Thou  holy  one, 
thou  princess,  thou  mother  of  light."  He  did  not 
say,  "What  have  I  got  to  do  with  thee,"  but  He  said, 
"What  concerns  thee  concerns  Me.  You  have 
brought  Me  into  this  world  to  manifest  this  light, 
but  do  n't  hurry  Me ;  My  hour  is  not  yet  come." 

He  uses  that  same  term  of  endearment  to  His 
mother  when  He  is  hanging  upon  the  cross,  with  lov- 
ing solicitude  for  her  welfare.  "When  He  saw  His 

8 


114    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

mother  and  the  disciple  standing  by,  whom  He 
loved,  He  saith  unto  His  mother,  Woman,  behold 
thy  son !  Then  saith  He  to  the  disciple,  Behold  thy 
mother!  And  from  that  hour  the  disciple  took  her 
unto  his  own  home."  This  conclusively  proves  that 
Mary  had  no  other  children  but  Jesus,  for  had  she 
had  others  Jesus  could  not  have  given  her  to  John 
to  care  for  her,  as  her  children  would  have  objected, 
and  such  a  thing  would  be  a  breach  of  all  Oriental 
filial  devotion  and  responsibility  of  children's  obli- 
gations to  care  for  their  widowed  mother,  who  was 
bereft  of  her  first-born.  Such  a  thing  would  be  an 
impossibility  for  Mary  to  be  designated  as  mother 
to  a  disciple  when  she  had  her  own  children  to  care 
for  and  mother.  Therefore,  as  I  have  said  before, 
those  that  are  mentioned  as  the  "brethren  of  the 
Lord"  were  Joseph's  children  by  a  former  marriage, 
and  were  much  older  than  Jesus,  being  young  men 
and  women  when  He  was  born  of  Mary,  the  virgin 
wife  of  their  father  Joseph,  whom  they  regarded 
as  one  out  of  their  direct  family,  because  she 
brought  in  her  own  genealogy. 

His  whole  life  was  calendered,  and  He  knew  what 
was  going  to  happen  every  hour  and  every  minute, 
what  was  to  come.  And  Mary,  woman  like,  had 
not  much  patience,  she  wanted  to  b-r-r-r-r,  quickly, 
quickly.  What  does  she  do?  She  doesn't  go  to 
the  harem,  but  she  goes  to  the  servants  and  says, 
"Do  what  the  Master  tells  you."  So  we  find  Jesus 
uses  the  word  "woman"  differently  from  the  way 
the  world  uses  it. 

You  read  where  it  says,  "The  birds  of  the  air 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     115 

have  nests,  the  foxes  have  holes,  but  the  Son  ofna/ 
man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head."  The  usual 
idea  people  have  is  that  Jesus  was  so  poor  He  did 
not  have  a  place  to  rest  His  head.  But  this  text 
does  not  mean  at  all  that  Jesus  was  poor,  but  it 
means  that  He  was  not  a  married  man.  How  can 
you  prove  to  me  that  Jesus  was  not  a  married  man  ? 
I  see  some  of  you  look  shocked.  You  would  not 
be  shocked  if  you  had  to  answer  as  many  questions 
as  I  do.  I  can  not  go  on  a  train  or  aboard  ship  or 
anywhere  that  people  do  not  come  up  and  ask  me 
all  kinds  of  questions,  so  I  am  not  shocked  by  any 
questions.  The  question  stares  you  in  the  face  to- 
day, when  there  are  sects  in  your  own  land  teach- 
ing that  Jesus  was  a  married  man  and  had  two  ' 
wives,  Mary  and  Martha.  How  are  you  going  to  >r|h 
contradict  this  ?  From  His  own  words,  "Foxes  have 
holes,  the  birds  of  the  air  have  nests,  but  the  Son 
of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  His  head."  When  a 
man  is  married  in  the  East  he  says,  "I  have  a  place 
to  rest  my  head."  When  he  is  not  married  he  says, 
"I  have  no  place  to  rest  my  head."  In  the  East  a 
man  builds  a  large  house;  here  is  a  large  family 
room;  father  and  mother  sleep  in  the  center,  and 
boys  and  girls  on  the  sides.  Around  this  quad- 
rangle are  rooms,  and  those  rooms  are  called  mas- 
nad,  rooms  where  they  rest  their  heads.  You  will 
find  Jesus  alludes  to  this  custom  of  the  children 
sleeping  with  their  parents.  Jesus  says,  "What  man 
cometh  at  midnight,  and  knocketh  at  the  door  and 
asketh  for  a  loaf  of  bread,  and  the  man  from  the 
inside  says,  'I  can  not  open  the  door  ?' "  Why  ? 


116    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

"Because  my  children  are  with  me  in  bed,"  refer- 
ring to  this  custom.  When  a  son  gets  married  he 
does  not  go  to  independent  housekeeping  as  you  do, 
but  he  brings  his  wife  to  his  father's  house,  and 
the  father  gives  him  a  room  or  a  suite  of  rooms 
in  the  house,  and  this  is  called  masnad,  a  room  to 
rest  the  head.  Jesus  refers  to  this  custom  when  He 
says,  "In  My  Father's  house  are  many  mansions," 
literally,  "resting  places."  He  was  picturing  to  Him- 
self His  Father's  house,  "In  My  Father's  house  are 
many  mansions,"  and  while  they  were  all  independ- 
ent, in  the  home  they  were  all  under  the  parental 
authority  of  the  father  under  the  great  patriarchal 
system.  So  this  is  the  resting  place. 

If  you  want  to  curse  an  Oriental  say  to  him, 
"May  you  never  get  married."  That  is  the  worst 
curse  you  can  place  upon  him.  An  Oriental  would 
rather  be  in  prison,  with  a  few  crumbs  of  bread  and 
a  few  drops  of  water,  and  know  that  some  time  he 
would  come  out  and  get  married  and  that  he  will 
love  somebody  and  somebody  love  him,  rather  than 
live  in  a  palace  dressed  in  purple  and  fine  linen,  and 
ride  out  in  chariots  of  ivory  and  gold,  and  know  he 
can  never  marry.  You  here  in  the  Western  world 
have  no  idea  what  it  means  to  an  Oriental  not  to  get 
married.  You  have  the  bachelor  girl  and  the  bach- 
elor boy  system,  and  it  means  nothing.  Why,  as 
soon  as  a  boy  is  born,  the  midwife  comes  out  and 
cries,  "The  bridegroom  is  come,  may  we  rejoice 
at  his  wedding,  may  we  rejoice."  And  the  neigh- 
bors and  friends  come  flocking  to  the  house  and 
bow  down  to  the  father  and  mother  and  say,  "At  the 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     117 

baby's  wedding  may  we  rejoice;  the  bridegroom  has 
come  to  your  house."  So  every  time  they  come  to 
the  house  and  are  treated  with  a  cup  of  coffee,  we 
say,  "The  bridegroom  has  come  to  your  house,  at 
your  son's  wedding  may  we  rejoice,  may  we  re- 
joice." So  in  the  Oriental  mind  not  to  be  married 
is  an  awful  picture.  And  as  that  rich  man  who  pro- 
posed to  become  a  disciple  of  Christ  looked  on  Him 
he  said,  "What,  You  so  beautiful,  so  great  in  wis- 
dom, not  to  have  somebody  to  love  You  when  You 
come  home,  where  to  lay  Your  head,  to  be  taken 
care  of!" 

There  was  nothing  about  Jesus'  appearance  to 
show  He  was  an  ascetic.  He  ate  and  drank  with 
the  publicans  and  sinners,  so  His  enemies  called  Him 
a  gluttonous  fellow  and  wine-bibber.  There  was 
nothing  particular  about  His  mode  of  life  to  show 
that  He  was  an  ascetic.  As  Orientals,  we  are  al- 
ways resting  the  body,  but  it  is  resting  the  head ; 
and  what  the  man  had  in  mind  was  one  of  those 
Oriental  homes,  with  a  sanctum  sanctorum,  a  holy 
place,  where  the  man  can  retire  free  from  trouble  to 
rest  his  head.  You  go  into  the  room;  it  is  all 
beautifully  furnished  with  thick,  heavy  velvet  car- 
pet, so  no  footfall  can  be  heard.  During  the  day 
he  can  rest  his  head;  the  soft  light  will  come 
through,  which  will  be  soft  and  peaceful.  Here  is 
a  white  satin  and  silk  couch,  and  silken  pillow,  and 
the  wife  is  an  angel.  She  is  attired  in  pure  white, 
and  she  stands  at  the  head  of  the  couch,  and  she 
has  a  downy  fan,  and  she  will  fan  him  so  he  can 
rest  his  head,  and  she  will  perhaps  put  her  hand  on 


118    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

his  head  to  smooth  his  brow.  She  must  not  say  to 
him,  "Do  you  love  me?"  and  "I  love  you,"  and  all 
that  sort  of  thing — no,  no,  no.  That  is  not  the  time 
of  loving,  that  is  the  time  of  resting,  the  time  of 
resting  the  head,  and  so  she  is  called  the  guardian 
angel,  and  she  stands  there,  and  he  knows  perfectly 
well  that  he  can  rest  his  head.  He  knows  that  no 
matter  what  happens,  so  long  as  that  guardian 
angel  is  standing  there  nothing  can  break  the  rest 
of  that  head.  So  when  this  man  had  this  picture 
in  his  mind  of  the  beautiful  Christ  not  having 
anybody  to  look  after  Him,  to  be  the  guardian 
angel  to  look  after  Him  when  He  came  with  weary 
head  tired  from  the  long  journeys,  it  was  an  awful 
picture  to  his  Oriental  mind  of  desolation  and  utter 
loneliness.  And  Jesus  pictured  that  with  His  own 
words  when  He  said,  "Foxes  have  holes."  Did  you 
ever  see  a  ^ox  a^one'  Foxes  are  always  in  pairs. 
^ At" -I  "Birds  have  nests."  Did  you  ever  see  a  bird  build 
a  nest  alone?  Birds  are  always  in  pairs.  "But 
the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  rest  His  head." 
Jesus  became  poor  so  that  we  might  become 
rich.  It  was  not  a  matter  of  pounds,  shillings,  and 
pence;  it  was  a  matter  not  of  His  simply  coming 
down  from  heaven  and  putting  on  the  body  of  man, 
but  He  became  poor  where  He  was  born  into  riches. 
He  was  born  a  king,  for  the  Wise  Men  came  and 
said,  "Where  is  He  that  is  bora  King  of  the  Jews  ?" 
He  was  born  into  the  royal  inheritance  of  the  house 
of  David ;  He  was  born  on  the  side  also  of  the  Le- 
vites,  where  He  had  an  emolument,  as  a  member  of 
the  house  of  David,  from  the  temple.  He  had  a 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     119 

right  to  be  a  member  of  the  great  Sanhedrim ;  He 
had  the  right  to  be  a  judge  in  the  court.  He  had 
all  these  rights  from  Solomon  to  be  a  great  man. 
And  Joseph  was  a  rich  man,  a  man  that  had  lands, 
a  great  business;  but  Jesus  took  all  that  inherit- 

1       TT  -J  1  ti^  A  11 

ance  and  He  said  to  the  young  man,  Go  and  sell 
your  possessions."  Now  that  man  had  come  into 
possession;  that  man's  father  was  dead.  We  know 
when  we  read  there  how  a  man  gets  riches;  when 
it  says,  "possessions,"  it  means  he  has  inherited 
from  his  father,  and  his  father  is  dead.  You  can 
not  sell  your  land  until  your  father  dies;  then  you 
can  sell  it,  and  do  what  you  like  and  change  your 
position.  So  He  said  to  that  man,  "Go  and  sell  your 
possessions  and  come  and  follow  Me."  Jesus  re- 
nounced His  rights  to  the  throne.  Did  n't  they  want 
to  crown  Him  king,  and  He  said,  "My  kingdom  is 
not  of  this  world  ?"  Did  n't  His  disciples  try  to  per- 
suade Him  to  become  king,  did  n't  the  elders  of  the 
village  try  to  persuade  Him?  But  He  gave  up  all 
wealth,  all  rights,  gave  up  all  the  large  wealth  He 
had  from  Joseph  and  the  house  of  David  in  order 
that  you  and  I  might  become  rich.  Had  He  become 
a  king,  or  had  He  become  a  judge,  member  of  the 
Sanhedrim,  a  high  priest,  how  could  you  and  I  have 
become  rich?  So  you  see  how  grand  the  thought 
of  the  apostle  is,  that  He  was  not  simply  poor,  going 
about  as  a  poor  mechanic  and  carpenter,  but  He 
gave  up  all  worldly  position,  all  worldly  rights  that 
counted,  and  was  despised  because  He  had  abdi- 
cated, given  it  all  up,  so  that  we  might  become  rich. 
O,  what  a  glorious  thing !  We  never  would  be  rich 


120    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

in  grace  today  had  He  taken  the  position  of  high 
priest  or  king  or  judge  or  lawyer.  Where  would 
we  have  been  ?  But  all  this  He  gave  up  so  that  we 
might  become  rich. 

You  read  that  He  was  in  the  court  of  the  temple, 
and  there  were  the  money  changers,  and  He  came  in 
and  saw  them.  So  many  people  criticized  Christ  at 
this  period  of  His  life.  They  say  Christ  got  angry, 
and  what  business  had  He  to  drive  them  out  of  the 
temple?  It  is  still  customary  to-day,  if  a  man's  an- 
cestor has  dedicated  a  portion  of  land  for  a  religious 
purpose,  and  then,  as  time  passes  on,  they  take  this 
land  and  turn  it  into  a  buying  and  selling  place,  or 
anything  but  what  it  was  originally  intended  for, 
this  man  has  the  right  to  come  and  throw  them  out 
and  assert  his  authority.  You  must  know  that  Jesus 
was  the  lineal  descendant  of  David  and  Solomon, 
and  that  property  of  the  temple  belonged  to  Him, 
every  inch  of  that  property  was  His  by  the  law  of 
land  tenure,  never  to  be  changed.  Why?  Because 
David  had  bought  it  with  his  own  money — not  with 
the  money  of  the  people,  but  with  his  own  money; 
he  paid  silver  for  that  place,  and  built  there  an  altar 
to  God  forever. 

I  remember  once  I  was  in  the  court  of  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  and  here  was  a 
piece  of  property  that  had  been  donated  for  a  cer- 
tain purpose,  a  place  of  worship,  and  there  were 
all  these  people,  such  as  you  see  in  the  court  now, 
and  they  were  buying  and  selling  and  money  chang- 
ing. Travelers  and  pilgrims  came  in,  and  every- 
body said,  "Will  you  buy  a  shroud  ?  Come  here,  buy 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     121 

from  me,  he 's  a  cheat ;  come,  buy  from  me,  a 
shroud,  a  rosary;  come,  buy  some  oil;  come,  I  will 
change  your  money."  And  you  come  up  to  the 
money  changer,  and  he  has  got  here  all  the  coins  of 
the  realm;  and  every  day  the  cry  goes  out  and 
says,  for  instance,  "To-day  the  gold  sovereign  of 
Great  Britain  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  piasters, 
and  all  you  people  hear,  the  golden  eagle  of  Amer- 
ica is  worth  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  piasters." 
And  now  you  come  up,  and  you  do  n't  know  that 
this  man  has  given  out  this  amount  of  money,  and 
the  money  changer  says  to  you,  "It  is  only  a  hun- 
dred piasters,"  and  he  only  gives  you  a  hundred 
piasters,  because  you  don't  know  what  the  ex- 
change has  been  that  day.  And  then  in  another 
hour  the  cry  goes  out  on  the  street  it  has  been 
changed ;  it  is  only  one  hundred  and  ten  or  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  piasters.  So  the  buying  and 
selling  go  on  day  after  day,  this  money  changing 
and  robbing  and  stealing,  and  thousands  and  tens 
of  thousands  of  pilgrims  come.  They  don't  know 
what  to  do  with  their  money,  and  they  hand  it  over 
to  these  men,  and  they  give  them  just  half  the  value 
of  the  money  they  have  taken. 

So  Jesus  came  to  the  temple.  It  was  not  in  the 
interior  of  the  temple,  but  in  the  court  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. The*  court  of  the  Gentiles  is  a  court  of  prayer,  C0-«**/v*~Ij 
because  the  Gentiles  who  became  proselytes  to 
Judaism  could  not  go  until  the  second  generation 
to  pray  in  the  inner  court.  So  the  buyers  and  sellers 
began  to  creep  in,  and  show  disrespect  for  the 
proselytes  to  Judaism,  taking  every  inch  of 


122    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

ground  until  they  came  right  up  to  the  steps  of  the 
temple.  So  Jesus  came  there  and  said,  "You  have 
made  My  Father's  house  a  den  of  thieves."  What 
did  He  do  ?  He  took  the  cord  from  around  His  gir- 
dle and  tied  it  on  the  rod,  as  I  have  seen  men  do. 
I  was  once  there,  when  there  was  bloodshed  going 
on  among  the  people,  as  they  were  fighting  the 
Turkish  soldiers  for  their  rights ;  and  one  man  came 
in  and  took  off  his  girdle  from  his  waist,  and  made 
a  whip  of  cords  out  of  it  and  raised  it,  and  he  called 
upon  them  and  said,  "In  the  name  of  my  ances- 
tors, of  whose  loins  I  am  begotten,  and  in  the 
name  of  God  I  demand  of  you  that  every  one 
leave  this  place."  So  it  was  with  Christ.  He 
took  off  the  cord  that  was  around  Him  and  tied  it 
on  the  rod  of  the  house  of  David.  "In  that  day 
there  shall  be  a  root  to  the  house  of  Jesse."  And 
untying  the  cord  He  said,  "You  have  made  My 
Father's  house  a  den  of  thieves,"  that  is,  the  house 
of  His  ancestors.  David  had  bought  that  land ;  Sol- 
omon had  built  that  temple  unto  God;  therefore  it 
was  doubly  the  house  of  His  fathers — of  His  fathers 
after  the  flesh  and  of  His  Father  after  the  spirit. 
So  He  overturned  their  money  tables,  and  drove 
them  out  of  the  temple. 

We  see  Jesus  again  in  that  upper  chamber.  I 
have  often  been  to  that  upper  chamber.  It  is  right 
close  by  where  the  tomb  of  David  is.  Jesus  had 
asked  His  disciples  to  go  there;  He  had  sent  them 
to  prepare  supper.  He  could  see  from  the  window. 
You  have  to  pass  through  the  court  where  the  tomb 
of  David  is.  And  they  sat  down  to  that  supper. 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     123 

They  sang  a  song.  As  I  have  sat  in  that  chamber 
it  seemed  to  me  that  I  could  hear  that  wondrous 
song,  one  of  those  beautiful  songs  of  His  ancestor 
David,  Christ  singing  with  David's  voice — the  Son 
of  man,  the  Son  of  God.  You  see  all  through,  that 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  David,  which  means  that  David 
is  speaking  in  Him — David  is  speaking  in  Him  when 
God  is  speaking  in  Him.  It  is  as  though  it  were  God 
speaking  in  God,  and  David  speaking  in  Christ,  be- 
cause David  got  that  grand  conception  of  being  able 
to  understand  that  Christ  was  to  come  in  the  flesh : 
"Give  strength  unto  Thy  servant,  and  save  the  son 
of  Thy  handmaid.  O  Lord,  truly  I  am  Thy  servant ; 
I  am  Thy  servant,  the  son  of  Thy  handmaid ;  Thou 
hast  loosed  my  bonds."  Who  was  the  son  of  the 
handmaid  of  the  Lord?  Jesus  Christ,  the  son  of 
Mary,  and  made  of  Himself  a  servant  of  God.  And 
so  here  the  song  is  sung,  and  Jesus .  washes  the 
feet  of  His  disciples;  and  then,  after  the  message 
goes  out,  in  order  to  show  them  that  they  should 
give  service; — you  see  it  was  a  shame,  and  that  is 
why  Jesus  bound  Himself  with  a  towel,  to  show  that 
service  is  a  glorious  thing — He  says,  "If  I  then,  your 
Lord  and  Master,  have  washed  your  feet,  ye  also 
ought  to  wash  one  another's  feet.  For  I  have  given 
you  an  example,  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done 
to  you."  It  is  absolute  service,  individual  service. 
And  then  He  took  the  bread  and  wine,  and  He  re- 
vealed to  them  this  cup,  what  it  meant,  as  they  sat 
around  the  table.  He  had  been  preparing  them  for 
this  period.  He  had  been  preparing,  for  it  says, 
"And  from  that  time  forth  began  Jesus  to  show  His 


124    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

disciples  how  that  He  must  go  up  to  Jerusalem  and 
suffer  many  things  of  the  elders  and  chief  priests 
and  the  scribes,  and  be  killed  and  be  raised  again 
the  third  day."  So  the  disciples  had  no  excuse  at 
all  for  thinking  Jesus  would  be  dead,  and  buried 
in  the  tomb,  and  not  rise  again.  For  He  had  pre- 
pared and  told  them  and  opened  their  minds. 

But  now  comes  a  glorious  thing  at  the  supper 
«.  table.    He  takes  up  the  cup  and  the  bread  and  says, 

Vjirv*^^.^  "This  is  My  body  and  this  is  My  blood."  Jesus 
"had  put  on  the  likeness  of  man,  and  in  putting  on 
the  likeness  of  man  He  put  on  simply  the  flesh  and 
blood,  and  that  is  why  He  said,  "This  is  My  body 
broken  for  you,  this  is  My  blood  that  is  shed  for 
you."  He  had  put  on  this  flesh  and  blood  so  as  to 
become  at  one  with  God.  Now  the  glorious  thing 
about  the  atonement,  as  we  call  it,  the  at-one-ment 
with  God,  is  not  simply  the  breaking  of  bread,  the 
f\fc  J&* '?  shedding  of  an  animal's  blood,  but  it  is  to  bring  us 
*nto  £  blood  relationship.  That  is  the  beauty  of  it, 
that  we  are  His  relations,  which  means  that  He  is 
ours  and  we  are  His  by  the  tie  of  blood.  He  says, 
"This  is  the  blood,  and  you  must  drink  of  it.  You 
are  one  with  Me."  This  is  the  communion,  and  He 
revealed  Himself  in  that  cup.  "Forasmuch,"  as  the 
apostle  said,  "as  the  children  are  partakers  of  flesh 
and  blood,  He  also  Himself  likewise  took  part  of 
the  same ;  that  through  death  He  might  destroy  him 
that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil." 
Now,  that  is  why  Jesus  had  to  put  on  flesh  and 
blood,  and  to  die,  that  He  might  destroy  the  power 
of  death  and  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  and  re- 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     125 

veal  Christ  in  the  flesh  and  blood.  That  is  why 
He  installed  the  holy  sacrament,  that  every  time  we 
take  of  that  holy  cup  and  bread,  we  are  as  it  were 
revealing  Christ  in  our  own  flesh  and  blood,  to 
show  that  He  came  in  order  to  save  us  in  that  way. 
And  so  here  they  took  of  the  cup,  and  the  apostle 
tells  us  that  the  light  came  into  their  minds,  and 
they  could  see  Christ  right  there ;  they  could  under- 
stand that  at-one-ment,  that  absolute  union  with 
Christ,  that  inseparable  love,  tied  with  Him,  for  ever 
and  ever.  "As  often  as  you  take  this  cup,  remem- 
ber Me." 

Then  we  see  that  He  leaves  with  His  disciples, 
and  goes  through  the  city,  passes  through  the  tem- 
ple, goes  out  of  the  golden  gate,  down  the  hill,  across 
the  brook  Kedron,  and  comes  to  the  Garden  of  Geth- 
semane.  Let  us  go  to  the  modern  Garden  of  Geth- 
semane,  in  the  same  place  to-day  in  the  King's  Dale,^.1 
the  same  place  where  Melchizedek  came  to  meet 
Abraham,  where  Melchizedek  brought  to  Abraham 
the  elements  of  the  bread  and  wine,  and  revealed  to 
Abraham  who  was  to  be  the  ancestor  of  Christ.  We 
go  out  of  the  eastern  gate,  go  down  the  hill,  across 
the  brook  Kedron.  We  see  a  walled  enclosure. 
The  door  is  opened  by  a  Franciscan  monk.  He 
asks  us  not  to  talk  above  a  whisper.  This  garden 
is  kept  by  the  Franciscan  monks.  There  are 
eight  old  olive  trees,  which  we  are  told  shaded 
the  Master.  Let  us  ask  permission  to  go  and 
pray  under  one  of  those  trees,  which  is  supposed 
to  be  where  the  drops  of  blood  fell  from  Christ's 
brow,  where  He  said,  "Not  My  will  but  Thine 


126    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

be  done" — and  the  voice  of  Jesus  was  heard  cry- 
ing, "If  it  be  possible,  take  away  this  bitter  cup; 
but  not  My  will,  but  Thy  will,  O  Father."  This 
cry  of  anguish  of  our  Lord  is  so  much  misunder- 
stood. The  traditions  tell  us  that  He  was  not 
wanting  in  faith  and  courage  for  Himself  as  an 
individual,  but  it  was  the  disgrace  that  would  fall 
upon  mankind  as  a  race  whom  He  represented  that 
they  should  perform  such  an  unholy  act  upon  His 
body,  which  would  rise  again,  and  which  forever 
would  bear  the  marks  of  their  deed,  seeing  He 
was  their  Saviour  and  had  allied  Himself  to  them 
by  ties  of  blood.  Must  He  drink  this  bitter  cup  of 
humiliation  for  them?  If  it  were  only  possible,  O 
Father,  to  save  them  from  this  disgrace.  Here  it  is 
said  that  the  very  blood  that  He  had  put  on  came 
out  in  drops  from  His  brow.  What  the  devil  had 
shown  Him  on  the  mountain  was  now  coming  to 
pass.  Shall  He  give  up  being  the  Saviour?  No, 
no!  Not  My  will  but  Thine  be  done.  They  shall 
be  saved  no  matter  what  it  costs  the  Son  of  man 
and  Son  of  God.  And  there  appeared  an  angel  unto 
Him  from  heaven,  strengthening  Him.  The  tra- 
ditions tell  us  that  it  was  the  angels  that  ministered 
unto  Him  on  the  Mount  of  Temptation  when  He 
had  overcome  Satan.  So  He  says  to  His  disciples 
whom  He  found  sleeping,  "Why  sleep  ye?  rise  and 
pray  lest  ye  enter  into  temptation."  He  was  de- 
sirous that  they  at  any  rate  should  not  bear  the 
stigma  that  they  were  unfaithful.  "That  the  saying 
might  be  fulfilled  which  He  spake,  Of  them  which 
Thou  gavest  Me  have  I  lost  none."  "Father,  I  will 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     127 

that  they  also  whom  Thou  hast  given  me  be  with 
Me  where  I  am  that  they  may  behold  My  glory 
which  Thou  hast  given  Me.  For  Thou  lovedst  Me 
before  the  foundation  of  the  world.  I  have  glori- 
fied Thee  on  the  earth.  I  have  finished  the  work 
which  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do.  He  subjugates 
everything  to  the  Father. 

So  we  ask  permission,  and  if  the  monk  thinks 
you  are  really  an  earnest  Christian,  one  who  wants 
to  pray,  and  not  simply  want  to  cut  off  a  piece  of 
the  tree  for  a  souvenir,  he  will  leave  you  there  to 
pray.  If  it  be  a  moonlight  night,  you  kneel  under 
that  tree,  praying;  and  you  see  the  proud  city  of 
Jerusalem  above  you,  and  you  see  a  mob  of  Roman 
soldiers,  with  swords  and  spears  and  torches,  and 
people  shouting  and  screaming,  and  they  come 
down  the  hill,  headed  by  Judas.  And  Judas  comes 
up  to  the  Master  and  says,  as  he  kisses  Him,  "Hail 
to  Thee,  O  Master."  Why  did  Judas  come  to  betray  .jfvu 
Jesus  with  a  kiss?  Because  Jesus  was  robed  in 
white,  and  all  the  disciples  were  robed  in  white; 
they  all  wore  hoods  over  their  heads;  that  is 
part  of  their  cloaks,  and  the  hood  would  fall  over 
their  head,  and  they  could  n't  tell  one  from  another. 
Judas  says,  "He  that  I  kiss,  that  is  the  one."  Jesus 
throws  back  His  hood  and  said,  "Judas,  why  dost 
thou  betray  the  Son  of  man  with  a  kiss?  Why 
have  you  come  to  take  Me  ?  Am  I  a  thief  or  a  rob- 
ber, that  you  should  come  to  take  Me  ?"  Whenever 
there  is  a  thief  or  robber  that  escapes  they  get  a 
band  of  soldiers,  and  all  the  riffraff  of  Jerusalem, 
shouting  and  screaming,  "A  thief,  a  thief  has  es- 


128    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

caped,"  and  any  man  can  shoot  him  without  being 
brought  to  a  court  of  justice.  That  is  exactly  what 
His  enemies  wanted  to  do  with  Jesus ;  they  wanted 
to  give  everybody  a  wrong  impression  of  Him. 
They  wanted  to  tempt  thousands  of  people  to  think 
that  Jesus  was  a  thief  and  robber  who  had  escaped. 
And  Jesus  refers  to  this  and  says,  "Am  I  a  thief  or 
a  robber,  that  you  should  come  with  staves  and 
sticks  to  take  Me?  I  will  go  with  you  willingly." 
But  they  pretended  that  He  was  a  thief  and  a 
robber,  and  so  they  bound  Him  and  dragged  Him 
along  the  streets,  and  brought  Him  to  the  house  of 
the  high  priest;  and  then  they  take  Him  to  Pilate, 
and  Pilate  examines  Him  and  says,  "I  find  no  fault 
with  this  man,"  and  then  he  sends  Him  to  Herod. 
Herod  was  glad  to  see  the  Christ ;  he  had  long  been 
desirous  to  see  Him.  Herod  was  of  the  house  of 
Esau,  of  Edom,  with  that  bitter  enmity  still  rank- 
ling in  his  heart.  So  Herod  was  the  great  king  of 
the  Jews.  "Who  is  this  man?"  When  he  looked 
upon  Christ  he  thought  He  would  perform  a  mira- 
cle, and  when  he  saw  He  was  not  performing  mira- 
cles he  was  a  little  bit  alarmed,  and  he  laughed 
"Ha,  ha!  So,  sir,  you  are  the  king  of  the  house 
of  David!  We  have  the  king;  where  is  the  robe 
of  the  king  of  the  shepherds?  I  am  no  king  of 
the  shepherds,  I  am  King  of  the  Jews.  Bring  here 
the  robe.  Let  Him  be  for  once  in  His  life  King 
David,  the  king  of  the  shepherds."  And  so  they 
brought  the  crimson  robe  (here  the  lecturer  pro- 
duced and  displayed  a  crimson  robe),  which  is  the 
sign  of  the  king  of  the  shepherds,  which  King 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     129 

Herod  had  in  his  possession,  but  had  never  dared  to 
put  on,  for  he  was  not  king  of  the  shepherds,  but  - 
simply  king  of  the  Jews.  So  they  put  this  robe  on 
the  Christ,  and  they  mocked  and  laughed  at  Him 
as  they  led  Him  through  the  streets,  mocking  and 
laughing  at  Him,  "Ha,  ha!  there  goes  King  David, 
the  king  of  the  shepherds,  who  claims  to  be  of  the 
house  of  David."  "Who  is  this  that  cometh  from 
Edom  with  dyed  garments  from  Bozrah  ?  This  that 
is  glorious  in  His  apparel,  traveling  in  the  great- 
ness of  His  strength  ?  I  that  speak  in  righteousness, 
mighty  to  save." 

They  brought  Him  again  to  Pilate,  and  Pilate 
was  himself  sorry.  He  says  to  Him,  "Art  Thou  a 
king?"  He  sees  by  the  robe  that  Herod  has  put 
on  Him  that  He  must  be  a  king.  And  then  Pilate 
goes  out  to  the  people  and  pleads  with  them  and 
says,  "I  find  no  fault  with  this  man."  But  they  cry 
out,  "Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him!"  and  he  said, 
"What,  shall  I  crucify  your  king?"  and  they  cried 
out  and  said,  "We  have  no  king  but  Caesar.  Thou 
art  no  friend  of  Caesar's.  Crucify  Him!  Show 
thyself  loyal.  We  claim  no  king  but  Caesar."  A 
Herod,  frightened  lest  they  should  bring  an  accusa- 
tion  against  him  that  he  was  in  collusion  with  this  ^ 
man  to  place  Him  upon  the  throne  and  dethrone 
Caesar,  said,  "Bring  me  the  jug  and  the  basin," 
and  according  to  the  Oriental  custom  he  washes 
his  hands  as  the  water  flows  over  them,  and  he  says, 
"I  will  wash  my  hands  of  the  blood  of  this  innocent 
man."  And  they  said,  "Damo!  Damo!"  which 
means,  "His  blood  be  upon  us  and  our  children." 

9 


130    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

I  have  often  been  at  places  in  the  Holy  Land 
where  they  have  had  a  blood  feud,  where  a  man 
has  had  to  suffer  the  penalty,  and  where  they  have 
screamed  out  for  his  blood,  "His  blood  be  upon 
our  heads  and  upon  our  children." 

And  then  Pilate  again  thinks  he  will  appease 
their  wrath.  He  attires  Jesus  in  a  royal  purple  gar- 
ment and  crown,  a  crown  of  thorns.  The  purple 
garment  showed  that  He  was  a  priest  and  king. 
And  He  had  another  garment  still,  which  was  a  robe, 
whole  and  without  seam  from  top  to  bottom,  His 
own  garment.  You  read  that  the  women  touched 
the  hem  or  the  border  of  His  garment.  When  a  man 
wears  a  garment  whole,  without  seam,  it  shows  that 
he  is  a  teacher  and  preacher.  When  there  is  a  border 
to  it,  it  shows  that  he  is  a  physician.  That  is  why 
the  woman  touched  the  border,  because  she  wanted 
to  be  healed.  If  she  wanted  religious  instruction, 
she  touched  the  upper  part,  but  she  wanted  to  be 
healed  and  she  touched  the  hem  of  His  garment,  and 
in  an  instant  was  healed.  So,  when  the  Roman  sol- 
diers cast  lots  for  the  garments  of  Christ,  it  was  a 
magnificent  garment.  You  say,  "How  could  Christ 
wear  such  a  garment?"  Do  you  not  read  that  the 
women  ministered  unto  Him?  The  women  to-day 
will  take  off  their  jewels,  and  they  will  sell  them 
and  buy  fine  silk  and  gold  thread,  and  they  will 
weave  the  garment  whole  and  without  seam,  with 
all  one's  genealogy,  with  everything  belonging  to 
him,  and  they  present  it  to  him.  And  so  Jesus  had 
His  own  seamless  garment,  the  crimson  garment, 
and  the  royal  purple  garment,  to  show  that  He  was 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     131 

physician,  priest,  and  king.  And  in  that  way  they 
brought  Him  out  before  the  multitude  in  that  mem- 
orable place.  Go  to  Jerusalem  to-day.  You  will 
see  the  arch  of  the  Ecce  Homo.  It  was  there  that 
Pilate  placed  Him,  with  the  royal  robes  on.  And 
he  said  of  Him,  "Behold  the  man — Ecce  Homo;" 
and  they  cried  aloud,  "Crucify  Him,  crucify  Him! 
We  know  no  king  but  Caesar!" 

And  so  Pilate  gives  Him  over  to  the  soldiers. 
They  seat  Him  on  the  marble  throne  in  the  pave- 
ment, and  they  kneel  before  Him,  and  they  give  Him 
a  reed  for  a  sceptre,  and  mock  at  Him,  spit  at  Him ; 
and  after  they  have  satisfied  all  their  wrath,  they 
take  off  all  these  garments  from  Him,  and  they  give 
Him  His  own  white  garment  that  He  had  on  down 
there  at  the  garden  of  Gethsemane.  And  so  in  that 
way  He  is  led  to  the  place  of  execution.  And  as  He 
was  being  led  to  the  place  of  execution,  the  legends 
have  it  that  a  soldier  carried  the  royal  garment  of 
the  king  of  the  shepherds.  In  the  other  hand  He 
carried  the  purple  one,  that  of  the  royal  priest-king, 
and  then  the  seamless  garment  of  Christ.  In  this 
way  He  walked  on  ahead,  followed  by  Simon  car- 
rying the  cross.  Then  came  Jesus  in  His  magnifi- 
cent form,  and  as  He  walked  through  the  streets  of 
Jerusalem  He  was  indeed  a  king.  On  His  head  was 
the  crown  of  thorns;  and  where  the  thorns  had 
pressed  through  His  brow  there  were  blood  drops, 
and  they  were  like  red  rubies.  And  as  He  majestic- 
ally walked  through  the  streets,  His  eyes  streaming 
with  tears,  He  heard  the  women  wailing,  and  He 
said,  "Wail  not  for  Me,  but  rather  wail  for  your 


132    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

children."  And  He  walked  down  the  Via  Dolorosa. 
Go  to  Jerusalem  to-day  and  you  will  see  sometimes 
a  thousand  people  on  the  street  at  the  different  sta- 
tions of  the  cross,  praying,  weeping.  At  Easter 
time  there  are  sometimes  thirty,  forty,  fifty  thou- 
sand pilgrims,  from  every  part  of  the  world,  and  on 
Good  Friday  they  are  all  day  in  the  street  of  sor- 
row. And  so  Jesus  walked  through  that  street  of 
sorrow,  calm  and  majestic,  full  of  sorrow  and  com- 
passion as  He  looked  upon  the  multitude.  And  then 
He  was  brought  to  Calvary.  They  took  His  seamless 
garment.  They  gave  it  to  the  soldiers,  and  the  sol- 
diers cast  lots,  because  it  was  so  beautiful,  so  rare, 
so  unlike  'a  garment.  Then  they  put  His  cross  in 
the  ground.  They  had  dug  a  deep  trench.  The 
thieves  were  already  strung  up  on  their  crosses. 
Jesus  was  nailed  to  the  cross,  and  ere  they  raised 
Him  on  the  cross,  they  nailed  His  hands  and  His 
feet,  and  they  took  that  cross  and  lifted  it  up  and 
placed  it  in  that  trench ;  and  as  they  shook  it  down 
His  whole  body  shook.  And  He  was  lifted  up.  And 
there  was  a  hush  that  fell  upon  the  multitude,  and 
then  the  rulers  began  to  deride  Him,  and  the 
multitude  began  to  cry,  instigated  by  the  rulers, 
"If  Thou  art  Christ,  come  down  and  save  Thy- 
self;" and  the  soldiers  began  to  mock,  and  the 
other  people  stuck  out  their  tongues  and  mocked 
and  laughed  at  Him.  And  as  He  looked  upon 
them  with  compassion,  He  lifted  His  eyes  up  to 
heaven  and  said,  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
cto^-Q  Ji  know  not  what  they  do."  In  asking  God  to  forgive 
them,  for  they  knew  not  what  they  did,  He  did  n't 
do  what  David  did.  David,  when  he  was  dying, 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     133 

called  his  son  Solomon,  and  he  says,  "Solomon, 
swear  to  me  that  you  will  not  let  the  head  of  Shimei 
go  down  to  peace  in  the  grave."  Why?  Because 
Shimei  had  mocked  him  when  he  was  going  up  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  But  this  great  Son  of  David  says, 
"Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  Then  He  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  "Eloi, 
eloi,  lama  sabachthani,"  which  translated  according 
to  your  version  means,  "My  God,  My  God,  why  hast 
Thou  forsaken  Me?"  Would  it  be  possible  that 
Jesus  could  for  one  moment  have  thought  that  God 
had  forsaken  Him?  This  is  one  of  our  many  mis- 
translations, for  we  read  that  those  who  acted  at 
the  cross  did  n't  understand  what  Jesus  said.  Some 
said  He  cried  for  Elias;  some  said  one  thing  and 
some  said  another  thing.  According  to  our  history 
what  Jesus  said  was,  "My  God,  my  God,  the  leth- 
argy  of  death  is  overtaking  Me,  for  I  am  entering 
into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death."  If  David 
was  not  afraid  of  entering  into  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  how  could  this  greater  Son  of  f\h^T\ 
David  be  afraid  to  enter?  It  was  not  the  22d 
Psalm  that  He  had  in  His  mind,  but  the  23d,  "Yea,  | 
I  am  entering  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death,  the  lethargy  of  death  is  coming  over  Me." 
Peter  brings  it  out  in  his  gospel  to  the  Egyptians, 
in  explaining  to  them  about  this  scene  at  the  cross. 
He  says  that  Jesus  called  out,  "My  power,  my 
power,  My  power  has  forsaken  Me.  I  am  entering 
into  the  shadow  of  death."  And  He  sees  His 
Father's  face  and  He  cries  out,  "Into  Thy  hands, 
O  Father,  do  I  commend  My  spirit."  And  then  He 
cries  out  with  a  loud  voice,  "It  is  finished." 


134    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

The  soul  has  fled.  Hanging  only  on  the  cross 
was  the  body,  the  Son  of  man,  the  body  in  which 
that  soul  had  manifested  itself.  And  there  was 
thunder  and  lightning  and  the  earthquake,  and  the 
dead  came  out  of  their  tombs  and  they  said  surely 
that  was  the  Son  of  God.  And  when  the  thunder 
and  lightning  and  earthquake  had  passed,  hanging 
upon  the  cross  was  the  body ;  and  Joseph  of  Arima- 
thea  comes  and  asks  for  the  body,  and  he  brings  a 
fine  linen  shroud,  a  winding  sheet;  I  have  here  a 
winding  sheet  of  fine  linen,  in  order  to  show  you 
what  it  is.  Here  is  a  shroud  of  linen  (here  the  lec- 
turer produces  a  shroud).  It  is  put  on  in  this  way 
(here  the  lecturer  adjusts  the  shroud).  You  see  it 
is  very  large.  You  see  how  wide  it  is,  so  that  the 
body  can  all  be  covered,  of  fine  linen,  the  finest 
linen  in  the  country.  And  the  body  is  wound  right 
in  it,  and  this  portion  here  is  the  winding  sheet, 
and  it  is  wound  round  and  round  until  you  come 
down  to  the  feet,  and  then  the  feet  are  taken  and 
tied  by  these  two  tassels,  and  this  part  is  the  towel, 
the  napkin,  which  you  read  about,  in  which  the 
head  is  wrapped  up,  the  same  kind  of  napkin  we 
use  at  the  present  day.  It  also  is  of  fine  linen 
(indicating).  And  so  the  head  is  wrapped  in  the 
napkin  by  itself.  That  is  why  they  found  the  nap- 
kin by  itself  and  the  grave  clothes  by  themselves. 
And  so  the  body  is  rolled  in  this,  and  the  winding 
sheet  is  wound  round  and  round,  and  in  this  way 
the  body  is  laid  in  the  tomb.  In  this  way  they  took 
the  body  of  Christ,  as  it  was  wrapped  in  fine  linen, 
and  laid  it  in  the  tomb  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  a 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus     135 

new  tomb,  where  no  man's  body  had  been  laid,  and 
there,  upon  that  newly  hued  rock  lay  the  vessel 
containing  the  Word  of  God.  And  they  took  and 
rolled  a  great  stone  over  the  mouth  of  the  tomb, 
which  required  three  or  four  persons  to  roll.  His 
enemies  said,  "This  man  said  He  would  rise  again," 
and  so  they  asked  for  seals  to  be  put  on  that  tomb, 
and  they  asked  for  a  watch  to  be  set.  And  they 
sealed  the  tomb,  and  there  the  body  lay. 

Meanwhile  the  spirit  of  Christ  left  the  body  and 
went  down  to  hell.    He  had  now  to  go  down  into 
the  depths,  He  had  to  go  down  into  hell,  and  the 
angels  could  not  go  with  Him.     No  angel  could., 
walk  through  the  portals  of  death.     All  through^ 
His  ministry  the  angels  were  with  Him.  But  now  H»   \JL»> 
had  to  go  down  to  hell  alone.    "For  I  have  trodden 
the  winepress  alone."    He  had  to  go  and  preach  to 
those  that  were  imprisoned,  to  set  the  captive  free. 
He  had  to  go  down  to  the  devil's  own  ground  and 
say,  "Now,  here  am  I,  who  have  fulfilled  all  things 
as  the  Son  of  man;  give  Me  the  keys  of  hell  and 
death.     I  have  won  them." 

We  have  a  beautiful  picture  in  the  Church  of 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  just  to  the  right  as  you  enter 
the  angels'  chamber,  a  beautiful  picture  of  those 
who  have  been  in  captivity  and  are  coming  out ; 
and  there  is  Adam,  and  Eve,  and  Jesus  is  received 
by  Adam  and  Eve,  preaching  the  gospel  of  ever- 
lasting life  to  them.  So  He  took  the  keys  of  hell 
and  death,  and  He  preached  to  those  that  were  in 
prison. 

Now  His  spirit  body  returned  to  the  tomb,  and 


136    Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

He  raises  His  body.  Christ  blended  His  spiritual 
body  with  His  earth-born  body,  or  rather,  after  He 
had  been  in  hell  and  come  out,  He  entered,  so  to 
speak,  ate  up  His  body  just  in  the  same  way  as  if 
you  have  an  ink  stain  here ;  you  take  a  kind  of  acid, 
and  you  put  it  on  that  stain,  and  that  acid  eats  up 
your  ink,  and  it  becomes  one  with  the  ink,  and  so 
Christ  ate  up  the  body ;  His  spiritual  body  ate  up  the 
human  body  that  He  had  put  on,  that  formed  the 
likeness  of  man,  and  now  the  earth  body  and  the 
spirit  body  were  blended  in  one.  "Blotting  out  the 
handwriting  of  ordinances  that  was  against  us" 
(Col.  2:  14).  Having  abolished  in  His  flesh  the  en- 
mity, even  the  law  of  commandments  contained  in 
ordinances,  for  to  make  in  Himself  of  twain  one  new 
man,  so  making  peace"  (Eph.  2:15).  And  then 
the  doors  are  thrown  open;  the  angels  hear  Him 
and  the  stone  is  rolled  away,  and  Jesus  comes  out 
more  glorious,  more  beautiful  than  He  was  before. 
For  He  had  conquered  the  last  enemy,  Death;  He 
had  trampled  him  under  foot,  and  He  had  the  keys 
of  hell  and  death  in  His  possession;  and  He  said, 
"Go  and  tell  the  brethren  that  I  live;  I  who  once 
was  dead  live  forever  more,  and  I  have  the  keys  of 
death  and  hell.  Go  and  tell  the  brethren  that  I 
live." 

And  so  He  showed  Himself  to  them  at  Emmaus. 
He  had  to  project  Himself.  They  did  n't  recognize 
Him ;  even  Mary  did  n't  recognize  Him,  and  so  He 
had  to  project  Himself  into  the  form  they  were  ac- 
customed to  see  Him.  And  so  at  Emmaus  they  did 
not  recognize  Him  until  it  came  to  the  time  of  the 


Manhood  and  Ministry  of  Jesus    137 

repast,  when  He  projected  His  personality  as  the 
Son  of  man  into  their  vision,  and  they  could  see 
Him  as  they  had  seen  Him.  And  so  it  was  that  He 
showed  Himself  over  the  country,  the  combination 
of  His  spiritual  body  and  His  earth  body ;  and  every 
time  He  had  to  project  something  that  they  could 
remember  Him  by. 

Then  forty  days  after  His  glorious  resurrection 
we  see  Him  and  His  disciples  coming  up  the  Mount 
of  Olives  which  He  loved,  the  house  in  Bethany; 
and  here  He  gathers  His  disciples  all  together,  and 
He  sends  them  forth  and  says,  "Go  ye  forth  andQ^.  :> 
preach  the  gospel  to  every  living  creature" — not  only 
to  living  beings,  but  animals.  For  the  animals  have  jL 
a  gospel,  because  they  took  part  as  types  in  the 
sacrifices.  They  are  to  go  and  preach  to  the  whole 
world  the  resurrection,  that  there  is  no  death — "I 
am  the  resurrection;  I  am  He  that  was  dead.  Go 
to  the  uttermost  corner  of  the  earth.  Carry  this 
message,  for  I  must  go  to  My  Father.  Go  ye  to 
the  uttermost  corner  of  the  earth  and  carry  it." 
And  as  He  bid  them,  He  began  to  bless  them,  and 
He  was  raised  higher,  and  then  higher,  and  higher, 
as  He  looked  down  upon  them,  and  so  He  left  them, 
until  He  was  lost  to  their  vision.  And  they  stood 
gazing  until  an  angel  came  to  them  and  said :  "Why 
stand  ye  gazing,  ye  men  of  Galilee?  As  ye  have 
seen  Him  go,  in  like  manner  ye  shall  see  Him  come 
again."  And  so  angels  appeared  at  His  birth  to 
the  shepherds  at  Bethlehem  announcing  His  advent, 
and  again  angels  appear  to  His  disciples  on  the 
Mount  of  Olives  promising  His  return — hence  the 


138     Jesus  Christ  in  His  Homeland 

natives  of  Palestine  have  built  a  little  chapel  over 
the  spot  from  which  He  ascended,  which  is  marked 
by  a  footprint  deep  in  the  rock  on  which  He  stood. 
They  claim  that  as  He  ascended  He  left  the  foot- 
print of  one  foot  as  a  testimony  that  this  earth  was 
His  and  that  He  would  return  and  claim  all  as 
prophesied  by  the  prophet  Zechariah,  "And  His 
feet  shall  stand  in  that  day  upon  the  Mount  of 
Olives  (Zech.  14: 4).  That  little  baby  that  was  bewi 
in  the  manger  of  Bethlehem,  to-day  has  revolution- 
ized the  whole  world.  Infidels  may  laugh  and  mock 
at  Him,  but  His  power  has  grown,  His  Gospels  are 
translated  into  every  known  language  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  It  is  like  an  electric  band  around  the 
whole  world,  notwithstanding  there  are  people  who 
have  thrown  out  His  Gospels  and  think  the  five-foot 
shelf  of  literature  is  sufficient.  All  over  the  world, 
wherever  you  are  sending  your  missionaries,  telling 
them  about  the  Christ,  they  in  turn  have  to  flash 
that  idea  that  they  believe  that  Christ  is  divine ;  and 
every  day  we  see  the  words  of  the  prophet  Daniel 
being  fulfilled,  "And  there  was  given  unto  Him 
dominion  and  glory  and  power,  and  His  dominion 
shall  be  an  everlasting  dominion  that  shall  not  fade 
away,  neither  shall  it  be  destroyed."  Therefore 
let  every  nation  and  kindred  and  tribe  upon  the  ter- 
restial  globe  to  Him  all  majesty  ascribe  and  crown 
Him  Lord  of  all.  For  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yes- 
terday, to-day  and  forever,  and  still  we  can  hear 
the  echo  of  that  glorious  song  sung  on  the  plains  of 
Palestine,  "Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on 
earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men." 

/ll 


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